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THE 
JOSEPH GILL BROWN 
COLLECTION 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
1851-1902 


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https://archive.org/details/onehundredyea 


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Que Hundred Years of Ristory 


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18021902 


Second Presbyterian Church 
Baltimore, Maryland 


BY 


Chomas Holmes Walker 
Pastor Second Presbyterian Zhurch 


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Baltimore, Id. 
Nov. 9, 19 92 


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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
MOR ETIACO TRIM ED, coo Soe oe ace ints cia aoiniel icie ee a Sesta eer teers 7 
Early Days of Presbyterianism. 
CORSA DERG IMS aim ofa faih. 3 as forse tar ate misono cr tievore) a siels\ erase cyelaeieecertiauecn ea 20 
Organization of the Second Church. 
COVELL TET SIS 2 1 UL RRS OAT ot eae Sr Cho Re 50 
In the Days of Dr. Glendy. 
RBEHAERE RN DV oan yjcici te nieve rere bide bhava eee st acide: cue a Mas atthaede a 68 
Choosing a Colleague. 
CRED ATETITSES ARI pk i ena Aa Se SN Re one Pe aH ea TS A 80 
The Pastorate of John Breckinridge, D. D. 
(Cie AERIALS cen Steals esearch ee MR ene hohe en aR an A O4 
The Call of Robert J. Breckinridge, D. D. 
POET EDEN BV Vs 7 Sop carota ce al cpe sini 5 Susye ms alenel et ee mele: Ocaib wate Si viee 115 
A Period of Colonization. 
RGEPA PERV ETS Sates tapi gee save moc terale s Stecelavetias « melee 129 
Dr. Breckinridge Closes His Pastorate 
MOAIPTER UNC Se core icsseleiavatels) Se ad R NM tad em) 143 
The Pastorate of Lewis W. Green, D. D 
(CHEW UEIITS lags uae Oe ee oath ee aus OO TSM a> BI ee RRO ID 150 
The Times of Joseph T. Smith, D. D. 
ROEMATSR ERS ON Meet Stet eit por eis wats OS Spjalbads She dente aati 166 
Our “War Pastor,’ George P. Hays. 
TAP TERIOR Mins Seve eusiirers Set ae Avalos Saree cievel asia eoaaets 175 
The Call of Jonathan Edwards, D. D. 

(C Taurens O11 | gre preset Scie Rare DCCC OO ee ates a Aree elie 180 
Another Man from Pennsylvania, Robert H. Fulton. 
MORER AE TER MRE Vie ais ravers Siova sah opine archseh abe re: hee eats eysteverny tee 193 

An Effort Toward Union. 
NOTA TERDOOKGN tS so hare ise sete ap ahi Saha Beieualale srocteals aletatararelene 205 


An Era of Organization, Alex. Proudfit, D. D. 


Dedication 
2 


This book is affectionately dedicated to the mem- 
bers of the Congregation of the Second Presbyterian 
Church, worthy inheritors of the precious attain- 
ments in the Master’s kingdom of those whose names 
may be found enrolled herein, and of those unnum- 
bered and unsung, a vast multitude forgotten of 
men, whose names are enrolled in the Lamb’s Book 
of Life; and to the members of the Session, upon 
whose shoulders has fallen the mantle of the fathers, 
and who are blessed with a double portion of that 
spirit of service and devotion to the Master and His 
church so characteristic of the Presbyterian elder. 


Preface 
a 


The Second Presbyterian Church of Baltimore 
celebrates its one hundredth anniversary. It would 
seem to be a fitting time to stop and enjoy the vision 
back along the way by which we have come to this 
point in our progress through the years. 

It would also seem to be fitting that we record 
that which we see, that, when we pass on, we may 
have a permanent record of the facts indelibly set in 
the history of the past, and shall also be able to recall 
from time to time and at a glance the impressions 
which this centennial anniversary must now produce 
on every thoughtful and devout member of our 
beloved church. 

Very humbly we place in this permanent form the 
deeds of our fathers, and point at the same time to 
our own doings—we who are the children of such 
fathers, for we have not whereof to boast, since the 
joy and hope and strength of our people have ever 
been a realizing sense of and entire dependence on 
the inworking presence and outworking power of 
the Holy Spirit. Yet we may not be accused of 
boasting when we say that we are proud of the long 
line of illustrious men who, from pulpit and pew, 
have been the willing instruments of the spirit of 
God and have borne faithful testimony to the ever- 
lasting truth down to the present day. 


BALTIMORE, Nov. 9, 1902. 


One Hundred Years of History 
Second Presbyterian @bhurch 


2 2 2 
By Rev. Thomas Holmes Walker, Pastor 
2 2 2 


The struggles of the makers of America was the 
inevitable warfare of an awakened manhood. Few 
and pitifully feeble in physical resources, they daunt- 
lessly and successfully attempt the greatest political 
and social problems. The result is still the wonder 
of the world. The unchained word of God which 
made the Reformation possible throughout Europe, 
made possible also the birth of this Republic, founded 
in the great doctrines of the sovereignty of God and 
the right of each individual to his equal chance in 
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It was 
at once a regeneration and a reformation—for no 
reformation can be real that is not vital. And the 
vitality of any reformation of character lies in the 
quickening into life of the spiritual man. The root- 
ings of early American character lie, for by far the 
greater and the dominant part of her pioneer citizen- 
ship, deeply bedded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
Convictions followed conversions, and actions were 


8 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


regulated by convictions. Men knew they were 
responsible to God before they were answerable to 
man; that they must have a reason approved of God 
for every opinion formed and position assumed. 

Fire and sword were alike ineffectual in the at- 
tempt to steal from them their birthright in the 
Gospel of the Son of God. The bitter and relentless 
persecutions of the Fatherland made America’s wil- 
derness, with its unknown perils and unattempted 
problems, appear to be a peaceful habitation. 

Such manhood was the basis of this national edi- 
fice, at this day somewhat of an experiment among 
the nations of the world, so far as its imposing super- 
structure is concerned, but presenting everywhere, in 
all departments of her building, political, social, in- 
dustrial and religious, the splendid, solid proportions 
of sterling Christian character. 

The progress of the race, intellectually, morally, 
spiritually, is the progress of Christianity. 

The fountain opened upon Calvary for sin and for 
uncleanness still pours through its widening rift the 
healing waters for the race. 

Is it to be wondered at that these men, who had 
religious convictions before they had political predi- 
lections, who held their heavenly citizenship before 
civil preferment, should, when they had the drafting 
of a “Magna Charta,” stamp their fearless character 
upon it? Is it any wonder that they sent the red 


aes ae 


blood of such a manhood through all the arteries 
and veins of our national fe? We do well to study 
this by no means ancient history, “lest we forget.” 

The Som of Mam made ample provision for the 
nourishment and development of sterlimg Christian 
character m the Christiam church, “the pillar and 
ground of the truth” 

There it is protected and entreated and thrust 
forth “to will and to do of God's good pleasure,” 
from the first mfantile assertions of 2 heaver-borm 
authority over the purely sensual and selfish, to its 
perfection of domimant sovereignty over ail the 
affairs of Itfe. 

Tt is m the Christian church, too, that character, 
expressed im the contests for supremacy waged m the 
limited sphere of 2 single Ife. finds its aggregate 
wealth of power and authority tremendously m 
begins to understand the Scriptures, “One shall chase 
a thousand and two put tem thousand to flight.” 

Every one of the great evangelical denommations 
which m those early, struggimg years found 2 
haven on our shores, was 2 most important factor m 
determining the trend of our American history m 
things civil and religious. 

That we are peculiarly terested im the history of 
our own branch of this evangelical body, the Presby- 


Ie ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY. 


It is not within the scope of this little volume, 
however, to attempt so broad a field, but to limit our 
investigations to simply one congregation, and that 
we may say with pardonable pride will be found to 
be in character and activity, though one of many, 
yet among the foremost. 

It is true that the Second Presbyterian Church of 
Baltimore, Md., did not begin to be until the nine- 
teenth century was two years old, yet its charter 
members were of the bone and sinew of our first con- 
gregation, which played its part in the times in which 
our Republic came to the birth. The history of Pres- 
byterianism since those early days in Baltimore city, 
has been commensurate with the growth of the city. 
For, previous to the year 1730, there was but little 
promise of the city’s present magnificent propor- 
tions, except that prophecy which its fine inland har- 
bor made of what is to us a daily vision—a forest of 
masts, the token of world-wide commercial relations. 

The beginning of our city may have been small, 
but it lies a long way back. In 1662 Charles Gor- 
such took up and patented the first land within the 
present city limits. He called it Whetstone Point. 
Fort McHenry is built upon it. He found but few 
to favor the location. 

Some twenty years after Charles Carroll, agent of 
the lord proprietary and the ancestor of Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton, became a land owner for the pur- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. II 


pose of founding a town. In 1726, however, there 
were only a mill, two dwellings and some tobacco 
warehouses upon the present site of the city and the 
land was not half cleared. No wonder it was not as 
yet dignified by aname. The rough character of the 
ground was not in its favor as a site for a growing 
city and prospective settlers looked with more favor 
on the more level land around, but were by legisla- 
tive enactment in 1729, through protest of owners, 
prevented from occupying this and were compelled 
to seek a site on the northwestern branch of the 
Patapsco, in Baltimore county, consisting of sixty 
acres of land. “In or about the place where John 
Fleming now lives” is the reading of the enactment. 
The site of John Fleming’s house was on what is 
now Charles street, east side, near Baltimore street. 
This John Fleming had rented his farm from 
Charles Carroll. The price paid by the projectors 
of Baltimore town for this farm was 40 shillings per 
acre. There does not seem to have been any pro- 
digious growth up to the year 1761, when the citi- 
zens numbered less than three hundred and the 
houses fifty. 

Yet, one writing of it after the Revolutionary war, 
says: “It was a pleasure to see this little Baltimore 
town just at the close of the War of Independence, so 
conceited, so bustling and debonair, growing up like 

. a saucy, chubby boy, with his dimpling cheeks and 


IZ ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY. 


short, grinning face, fat and mischievous, and burst- 
ing incontinently out of his clothes in spite of all the 
allowance of tucks and broad selvages. Market 
street (Baltimore) had shot like a Nuremburg snake 
out of its box, as far as Congress Hall, with its line 
of low browed, hipped-roof houses in disorderly 
array standing forward and back after the manner 
of a regiment of militia.” 

What caused this progressive spirit? Was it be- 
cause that during the Revolution the capitol centered 
in Baltimore or was it not rather because a stream of 
immigration had set in after 1730, bringing many 
strong Christian men into the little city. These men 
were merchants and mechanics, but above all were 
Christians. Of these the Presbyterians were neither 
last nor least. In Baltimore county there had been 
a Presbyterian Church prior to the year 1715, to 
which Rev. Hugh Conn ministered. Its location 
cannot be determined. The minutes of the Presby- 
tery of Philadelphia, with which Maryland was at 
that time connected, show that Mr. Conn came to 
this country with Mr. Orme from the Presbyterian 
Church of England, with which church a correspon- 
dence was carried on through a Mr. Reynolds. A 
committee was appointed to examine him as to his 
ministerial abilities, and upon being satisfied, were to 
solemnly ordain him to the work of the ministry 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. BS 


among the people of Baltimore county, Maryland, 
upon the third Thursday of October, 1715. 

In the year following the Presbytery of Philadel- 
phia divided into four separate judicatories, and Mr. 
Conn’s name was enrolled in Newcastle Presbytery, 
to which Maryland was attached. This pioneer 
Minister of Christ died while preaching in the pulpit 
of the Bladensburg Church in 1773. It is known 
also that he was pastor of our own Slate Ridge 
Church, preceding a Mr. Whittlesey, whose work is 
mentioned in a report on the state of religion in 
Maryland, written by Rev. Samuel Davies to Dr. 
Bellamy, of New England, in which, in the same 
connection, he speaks of the revival of religion in 
Maryland. Dr. Patrick Allison also ministered to a 
church in the county about the year 1768 in connec- 
tion with his church in Baltimore. This church was 
called “Soldiers’ Delight,’ now Mount Paran, and 
was formed in 1766 by some families from Pennsyl- 
vania. They built a log church, in which they wor- 
shipped for some time. This was five years subse- 
quent to the coming into Baltimore of a strong band 
of Presbyterians from Pennsylvania and Maryland. 

These men are worthy a place on the church’s roll 
of honor. Driven by thickening troubles, through 
the foolhardiness of the Proprietary Government, to 
seek another home, the brothers Smith, John and 
William, William Buchanan, partner with John 


14 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Smith in the firm of Smith & Buchanan, James Ster- 
rett, Mark Alexander, John Brown, Benjamin Grif- 
fith, Robert Purviance, William Spear, Drs. John 
and Henry Stevenson, from Ireland, and Jonathan 
Plowman, from England, came to Baltimore. 

These, with others, soon formed a Presbyterian 
congregation, meeting from house to house, until 
their unpretentious log building was erected. It 
stood just to the rear of where Christ Episcopal 
Church now stands, corner of Gay and Fayette 
streets. They soon proved their strength in both 
church and state, and were largely instrumental in 
bringing to Baltimore its present supremacy over 
earlier settlements on the Chesapeake. For, in the 
race for honors anywhere, sturdy character counts 
for more than any other quality. To these men and 
their immediate successors, whose names are to be 
found upon the register of our oldest Presbyterian 
churches, not alone Presbyterianism but Evangelical 
religion owes a debt we can never hope to pay, 
except we lay our posterity under similar obligation 
by fidelity in our lot. There was preaching for them 
in this log church the Rev. Hector Allison, whom 
they besought to be their pastor, but the arrange- 
ment was never consummated, for the committee of 
the Presbytery, sent to examine the field and prose- 
cute the call, did not deem the proposals satisfactory. 
In a short time, however, 1763, they engaged a 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 15 


licentiate of Philadelphia Presbytery, Mr. Patrick 
Allison, of whom they had heard through some 
young men of Baltimore attending an academy at 
Newark, where he was acting as tutor, to serve them 
for a period of one year, as stated supply. His 
salary was to be £100. Mr. Allison was a young 
Pennsylvanian, born but 23 years before in fertile 
Lancaster county. His education was attained in 
the College of Philadelphia. 

It soon became apparent that to avoid the 
many inconveniences arising from a lack of authori- 
tative management in congregational matters, mak- 
ing necessary a calling together of the entire society 
for their consideration, they must choose some goy- 
erning body. They therefore selected a committee, 
the minister to preside, whose business it would be 
“to direct and transact public affairs in the name of 
the society,’ before whom their proceedings were to 
be laid as required. No new regulations could be 
framed nor alterations made in any existing without 
their oversight and consent. This committee was 
formed by the society, convened in their log church 
on the 6th day of February, 1764. The committee 
unanimously chosen consisted of John Stevenson, 
John Smith, William Lyon, William Buchanan, 
William Smith, James Sterrett, William Spear and 
Jonathan Plowman. 


16 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


At a subsequent meeting of the committee, Rev. 
Patrick Allison presiding, Mr. James Kelso was 
elected clerk, and at a meeting on the roth instant, 
at his house, Mr. John Smith was chosen treasurer 
and Messrs. William Buchanan and James Sterrett 
collectors for the ensuing year. 

It was not to be expected that the little log church 
would long suffice the growing needs of this pro- 
gressive people, and we are prepared to learn that 
this committee found almost the first item of busi- 
ness the erection of a new church edifice. The build- 
ing as erected was 35x45 feet, leaving in the rear a 
burial ground. In 1772 the church was enlarged. 
In 1785 the congregation decided to purchase two 
acres of ground outside the city limits for a burying 
ground and that they erect a new church on the site 
of the old one. All these improvements resulted in 
1792, in the possession by the congregation of the 
famous two-towered church with its wide portico 
and steep ascent, standing on the bluff overhanging 
Jones’ Falls, now the northwest corner of Fayette 
and North streets. The weather vanes upon these 
steeples must have been the subject of town jokes, 
for Scharf, in his “Chronicles of Baltimore,” says: 
“The chief particularity about the latter (steeples) 
being, that the weather cocks upon them never point 
in the same direction unless, perhaps, during the 
equinoxial gales.” It was at that time one of the 


D 


D 


FIRST PASTOR 


’ 


JOHN GLENDY 


1802-1829 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 17 


most elegant churches in America. While the 
church was building, Dr. Allison preached in the old 
courthouse, which stood on the site of the present 
Battle Monument. 

The prosperous condition of Presbyterians may be 
assumed from the committee’s address to the congre- 
gation upon the completion of the new building in 
1791, in which they state that since the formation of 
the congregation, a period of little more than 28 
years, three church edifices had been erected, lots 
bought, one burial ground purchased, two enclosed, 
salaries collected with unusual accuracy and inferior 
expenses defrayed. “Your temporalities,” they add, 
“are now in a flourishing state.” 

During the erection of this building, formal appli- 
cation was made in the Presbytery for the formation 
of a Second Presbyterian Church, the result of the 
labors of Dr. Allison, who had given part of his time 
to preaching on the Point. Since the growth of the 
First Church he found it necessary to discontinue 
this preaching, which led to the desire for the forma- 
tion of another Presbyterian congregation. It would 
seem from the records of the Second Church as 
though even previous to 1790 such an organization 
was contemplated, for the Board of Trustees of the 
Second Church in meeting November 6, 1804, did 
appoint a committee, Messrs. Hollins, McElderry 
and Payson, “to investigate the circumstances of a. 


18 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


parcel of land given to certain persons for a Second 
Presbyterian Church by Col. John E. Howard in 
1785 and to obtain a title if possible.” The report 
of this committee cannot now be found. The pro- 
ject slumbered, gathering strength. Dr. Backus in 
the footnotes to a printed copy of a sermon he 
preached at the dedication of the Westminster 
Church, 1852, says: “In 1801 Dr. Allison’s health 
declined, making necessary the securing of an 
assistant,” but in manuscript memoirs in an old 
record book of the Second Church the chronicler of 
those early events, writing in the times of Rev. R. J. 
Breckinridge, certainly not later than the early 30’s, 
says: “Dr. Allison died at a very advanced age, 
much regretted by his people and by the citizens gen- 
erally. Soon after this event, which it is believed 
was in 1801, three candidates offered for the vacant 
pulpit, viz: the Rev. Dr. Alexander, the Rev. Dr. 
Inglis and the Rev. Dr. Glendy.” 

The following notice of Dr. Patrick Allison’s 
death and funeral, appeared in the Gazette and Ad- 
vertizer of the 21st of August, 1802. 

“The members of the Presbyterian Church and 
such other citizens of Baltimore as are disposed to 
testify their respect to the memory of the late Rev. 
Dr. Patrick Allison, are requested to attend his 
funeral tomorrow afternoon at 5 o'clock, from his 
late dwelling. August 21st.” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ime) 


In the same paper for the 23rd of August appear- 
ed a short account of his life. 

At the first election the Rev. Dr. Alexander was 
chosen by a large majority, but it having been com- 
municated to him that the minority would not join 
in the call, he declined its acceptance and was after- 
wards chosen pastor of the Third Presbyterian con- 
gregation of Philadelphia and then professor in the 
Theological Seminary at Princeton.” 

At the second election the Rev. Dr. Inglis was 
chosen by a small majority over Dr. Glendy. 


CHAPTER II. 
ORGANIZATION OF THE SECOND CHURCH, 


The friends of Dr. Glendy, dissatisfied with the 
conduction of the election, withdrew and formed the 
Second Presbyterian Church. This colony was 
large and respectable, for they immediately opened 
up a correspondence with Dr. Glendy, who at the 
time was pastor of two small congregations near 
Staunton, Va. He agreed to remove to Baltimore 
if they would build him a church. Dr. Glendy came 
to Baltimore warmly recommended by Thomas Jef- 
ferson, with whom he had become acquainted, and 
through whom he had visited Washington, where he 
was heard so favorably that the fame thereof 
reached Baltimore and resulted in his having so 
enthusiastic a following, that they immediately took 
steps to receive him in Baltimore and to build him a 
suitable church. 

Pending the building of the church Dr. Glendy 
frequently preached in the pulpits of the Evangelical 
churches of the city, but the regular services of the 
congregation were held in the First Presbyterian 
Church building, as would appear from an extract 
from the minutes of “the Committee of the Presby- 
terian Church in the city of Baltimore.” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 21 


“The following letter was laid before the com- 

mittee : 
BALTIMORE, December 4, 1802. 

GENTLEMEN: The committee appointed to re- 
ceive subscriptions for the purpose of erecting a new 
building to be distinguished by the name of “The 
Second Presbyterian Church in the city of Balti- 
more,” take the liberty of informing you that the 
subscription has equalled the most sanguine expecta- 
tions. They also take the liberty of communicating 
to you that the pastor’s (contemplated by such sub- 
scription) engagements with his present parishoners 
expires with the last day of this month and that it is 
the wish of the committee to give him an invitation 
immediately on the expiration of his time. The 
object of thus addressing you is to know if he could 
have the use of the present Presbyterian Church to 
officiate in occasionally, until the new church could 
be occupied with safety, which we flatter ourselves 
from the intended early arrangements for the going 
on with the building will not exceed the month of 
August next. With due respect, we are, gentlemen, 


John McKim, Jr., N. Andrews, 

Joseph Spear, James Armstrong, 
N. Thompson, Kennedy Long, 
Hugh McCurdy, Thomas McElderry, 
James Hutton, James Biays, 

James Sloan, and Joel M. Munson. 


Abraham Van Bibber, 


22 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Whereupon, it was resolved, That the president 
answer the same by signifying our willingness to 
accommodate them with the use of the church occa- 
sionally, and the president, together with Messrs. 
Robb and Buchanan, are appointed a special com- 
mittee to meet a deputation from the applicants, to 
make the necessary arrangements for that purpose.” 

The subscribers to the new building of the in- 
tended Second Presbyterian Church were called to- 
gether by the subscription committee through an 
advertisement in the Morning Advertiser of Decem- 
ber 27, 1802, 

NOTICE. 

“The committee appointed to receive subscriptions 
for the intended Second Presbyterian Church, in the 
city of Baltimore, respectfully solicit a meeting of 
the subscribers at the Columbia Inn, corner of How- 
and and Market streets, on Wednesday evening, the 
29th inst., at 5 o’clock.” 

They met on the 29th of that month and consid- 
ered the proposals and plans of the committee for the 
church. 

January 6th, 1803, proposals were advertised for 
in the daily print for bricks and lime for intended 
Second Presbyterian Church, cinensias of which 
are to be 60x8o. 

By order of the committee, 

James Hutton, Ch. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 23 


It will be seen from the foregoing that not much 
time was lost by the committee in beginning the 
church building. 

The reader, who may be unacquainted with this 
portion of our church’s history may be inquiring as 
to the meaning of certain titles used and the absence 
of others which today are of the “warp and woof” of 
our church affairs. 

Let us glance at the history. Owing to the imper- 
fect organization of the times and the very loose 
method pursued in the preservation of facts con- 
nected with the formation of our church, we are able 
to lay before our readers but a meagre portion of that 
most important period in the history of Presbyter- 
ianism in Baltimore. 

The attention of Presbytery was directed toward 
this condition of the churches and moved toward 
their more perfect organization, adopting a pastoral 
letter setting forth the necessity for a regularly 
ordained session of ruling elders. Previous to this 
the representatives of the church sent to Presbytery 
had been unordained men acting in the capacity of 
trustees. It was, then, simply an unorganized con- 
gregation, which proposed to Dr. Glendy his settling 
among them as their pastor. 

Nor was it until October 29, 1804, at a congrega- 
tional meeting, regularly called for that purpose, 
that articles for regulating and managing their con- 


24 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


gregational or temporal concerns were adopted and 
a committee of thirteen members elected as their first 
trustees or “committee” to carry into effect said 
articles in accordance with the mode prescribed by 
the act of the General Assembly of Maryland for the 
incorporation of certain persons in every Christian 
Church, etc., passed in 1798, supplement 1802. This 
act of incorporation was recorded November 4, 1804. 
The corporate title therefore became “The Commit- 
tee of the Second Presbyterian Church in the City of 
Baltimore.” The members of this first committee 
were as follows: 

James Biays, James Sloan, Thomas McElderry, 
Joseph Spear, Thomas Dickson, Henry Payson, 
John McKim, Jr., Kennedy Long, James Arm- 
strong, John Campbell White, John Hollins, Hugh 
McCurdy and James Hutton. 

Provision was made for their succession by con- 
vening in the place of public worship the members of 
the congregation over 21 years of age holding a pew 
and not being in arrears more than six months for 
same, on the 4th Monday of October or any other 
Monday of same month (changed to 3d Wednesday 
of December in October, 1864), then and there to 
elect by ballot or proxy 13 members of the congrega- 
tion, each pew to have but one vote, no matter how 
many might have sittings in it. All the property 
was vested in this corporate body, which was given 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 25 


full authority to bargain, sell, lease or convey. At 
all meetings the minister was to be the presiding offi- 
cer and was to appoint three judges of election a 
reasonable time before each election and sign all doc- 
uments. 

Though we may not lay before our readers an ac- 
curate roll of those first members, we can very nearly 
approximate them from a list of the contributors to 
the erection of the church. This list bears date 1803 


and is as follows: 


Aitkin, Andrew, 
Armstrong, James, 
Abricks, Harmanus, 
Andrews, Nathaniel, 
Armour, David, 
Aikin, George, 
Biays, James, 

Bland, Theodorick, 
Buchanan, James A., 
Borland, John 
Boyd, James P., 
Barklie, Thomas, 
Boyd, Andrew, 
Beatty, James, 
Biscoe, James, 
Bryden, James, 
Brown, Capt. David, 
Brown, Dr. George, 


Calhoun, James W., 

Carruthers, John, 

Carruthers, James, 

Cochran, Wm. and Bro., 

Crewy, Hans, 

Cotton, Solomon, 

Colhoon, Benjamin C., 

Clopper, Andrew, 

Cross, Andrew, 

Cunningham, John, 

Crawford, Andrew, 

Crook, Walter, 

Clopper, Edward N., 

Downie, John, 

Dickson, John, Thomas 
and William, 

Dobbin, Thos. and Geo., 

Dugan, Cumberland, 


26 


Dunwoody, Robert, 
Dorsey, John G., 
Dinsmore, Patrick, 
Deagen, Patrick, 
Dewit, Thomas, 
Dorsey, Joshua, 
Eichelberger, M., 
Etting, Solomon, 
Eichelberger, M., 
Etting, Reuben, 
Fraser, Thomas, 
Forman, William Lee, 
Fulton, Alex and James, 
Fulton, David, 
Furguson, Robert, 
Fisher, John, 

Finley, Ebenezer, 
Frick, John, 

Fulton, William, 
Gilmor, Robert and sons, 
Gun, James, 

Gordon, John and Wm., 
Gallagher, Alex, 

Greer, George, 

George, Archibald, 
Graham, David, 

Greer, Thomas, 

Hollins, John, 


ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Hutton, James, 
Hughes, Christopher, 
Hillen, John, 
Hamilton, James, 
Hollingsworth, Levi, 
Herbert, Joseph, 
Hoffman, Jacob, 
Jones, Talbot, 
Johnson, Edward, 
Jembs, John, 


~ Jenkins, E., 


Kennedy, John, 
Keeports, George P., 
Kelso, George and John, 
Keys, Richard, 
Kirkpatrick, Jeremiah, 
Kerr & King, 

Lyon, Samuel, 

Long, Kennedy, 

Long, James, 

Liggett, George, 
Lorman & Fulfords, 
Munson, Joel M., 
McKim, John, Jr., 
McElderry, Thomas, 
McCurdy, Hugh, 
Matthews, William, 
Moore, Robert, 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


McKean, Samuel, 
McKim, Isaac, 
McDonald, Wilkar, 
Mosher, James, 
McDonald, Alex, 
McBlair, Michael, 
McQuin & Barron, 
McEvers, Daniel, 
Moore, Thomas, 
McIntire, John, 
McConkey, William. 
McCreery, William, 
MacDowell, George, 
McFadon, William, 
Mactier, Alex, 
McClure, John, 
McKane, John, 
McElwee, John, 
McCalister, John, 
Mickle, Robert, 
Maris, Mr., 

McKim, Samuel, 
Martin, James, 
Neilson, Hugh, 
Neilson, James C., 
Norris, Nicholas, 
Norris, William, 
Neale, Abner, 


Owings, James, 


27 


Oliver, Robert and John, 


Patterson, William, 
Pechin, William, 
Priestly, James, 
Purviance, James, 
Purviance, Robert, 
Purviance, John, 
Payson, Henry, 
Peirce, Humphrey, 
Parks, Andrew, 
Phillips, Isaac, 
Prentice, Alex, 
Parks, John, 
Paxton, Ruth, 
Robb, William, 
Ross, William, 
Roy, John, 
Robinson, A., 
Randall, John, 
Richardson, A., 
Sloan, James, 
Smith, William, 
Salmon, George, 
Smith, Samuel, 
Somervell, James, 
Sweeting, Thomas, 
Stirling, James, 


28 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY, 


Spear, Joseph, Thompson, William, 
Steene, Matthew, Taylor, Lemuel, 
Stricker, John, Thompson, Hugh, 
Smith, Samuel R., Thompson, James, 
Smith, Robert, Van Bibber, Abraham, 
Stewart, Archibald, Van Wyck, William, 
Shedden, John, Williams, Benjamin, 
Stewart, Robert, White, J. C. & Sons, 
Stirling, William, Wales, Ebenezer, 
Sterret, Samuel, Williams, Samuel, 
Stewart, William, West, James, 

Suman & Lamb, Wilson, Robert, 
Shryer, Louis, Williamson, David, 
Smith, Ralph, Winchester, William, 
Smith, James and John Woods, William, 

R. Caldwell, Wilson, James, 
Sprole, William, Wood, William H., 
Stiles, George, . Wray, John, 

Taylor, William, Youer, Samuel, 
Tagart & Caldwell, Young, Joseph, 


Thompson, Nathaniel, 


The amount of money subscribed by these two 
hundred and nine men and one woman was $10,489, 
a goodly sum for the times, showing how well sup- 
plied in this world’s goods the infant project was. 

In the treasurer’s account for the building of the 
church we find expenditures of upwards of $35,000 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 29 


paid out to masons and carpenters and dealers in the 
materials used in its construction. 

On a little print of this building in possession of 
the Peabody Library we are informed that the cost 
was $34,000 and that George Milleman, the archi- 
tect of the old city courthouse, supervised its con- 
struction. 

It was a substantial structure, plain but very com- 
modious, capable of seating 1,100 persons. It 
fronted 80 feet on Baltimore street and 70 feet on 
Lloyd street. There were no steeples and no bell to 
call the congregation together, a remarkable omis- 
sion in those days. It had wide galleries, to which 
access was had by winding stairways at either end of 
the church. The church was not completed until 
the time for Dr. Glendy’s installation, March, 1805. 
The sub-committee appointed to superintend the 
building of the church consisted of James Biays, 
Thomas McElderry and John McKim, Jr. This 
committee was continued by act of “The Committee’ 
November 6, 1804, and doubtless served until its 
completion. 

There is before me as I write a statement prepared 
by R. S. Hollins (whose father, J. Hollins, was first 
treasurer) about 1824, setting forth the several 
sources of receipts and the expenditures of same 
from the beginning of the congregation up to the 
year 1809, and showing that in addition to raising 


3c ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY. 


money by direct subscription, by which over $10,000 
was pledged, as we have shown, and by the sale of 
pews, something over $13,000 and rentals of pews 
over $9,000, amazing fact, yet true, they raised 
$7,411 by a public lottery. 

The advertisement of this lottery appeared in the 
American and Commercial Advertiser for March 11, 
1805, and appeared daily for some time. Imagine, 
if you can, the present members of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church reading over their morning coffee 
the following : 

Second Presbyterian Church Lottery. 
Authorized by the General Assembly of the State of 
Maryland and the corporation of the 
City of Baltimore. 


Scheme. 
E prazqotes 66 sak ae 2 8 $5,000 
L.prizecof ) . .isdas sins ine is 0s CC 2,000 
I ptize Gb)0.4 cen ae cies a .. «6S 
3 prizes, $500 each. ....4...-. 0 cee 1,500 
8 prizes, $200 each... 26 ...85.. 20 en ee 1,600 
20 prizes, $100 each.........-.... ae 2,000 
40 prizes, $50 eaclt. 2)... 0.6554 ee ee 2,000 
80 prizes, $25 each... 242.44. 50. see 2,000 
200 prizes, $10 each... 12sec ce ceconas 2,000 
3,350 prizes, $1 each... .ece.ssa wed naan 3,350 


The above lottery is intended to raise a sum of 
money, in addition to the liberal subscription hereto- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 31 


fore obtained, for the building of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church in this city. The laudable purpose 
to which this money is to be applied, together with 
the advantages in a pecuniary view, which must ap- 
pear obvious to adventurers, cannot fail to produce 
a ready sale of the tickets. 

It is expected the drawing will commence the first 
week in September, or sooner, if a sufficient number 
of tickets are disposed of. All prizes in this lottery 
will be paid, without deduction, in sixty days after 
the drawings are completed. Prizes not demanded 
twelve months after the drawing is finished will be 
considered as generously relinquished for the benefit 
of the church. 

Tickets, at $5 each, to be had of the managers. 

Thomas McElderry. 
James Biays. 

James Armstrong. 
James Sloan. 

Hugh McCurdy. 
John McKim, Jr. 
Thomas Dickson. 
Kennedy Long. 

On April 13, 1805, the lottery is still further ad- 
vertised as follows: 

The managers of the Second Presbyterian Church 
Lottery will commence drawing on the first Monday 
in May next. In the meantime tickets may be had 


32 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY. 


at the original price, and prizes in the Cathedral 
Church Lottery will be received in payment. 

(Signed) (as before). 

This advertisement was the result of a resolution 
passed by the committee March 11, 1805, viz: “That 
the drawing of the lottery be commenced in May 
next.” 

In the Telegram and Daily Advertiser, of May 21, 
1805, appeared this notice of the first drawing of the 
lottery : 

“The managers of the Second Presbyterian 
Church lottery, met agreeably to notice yesterday at 
Mr. Myer’s tavern, and commenced drawing said 
lottery. 

“Owing to some returns not being in from the 
country, they drew only 25 tickets, and adjourned 
"till Saturday, next, at 3 o'clock. 

“The following numbers drew prizes of six dol- 
lars each: 

“1434, 29049, 3421, 3761, 4325, 8817, 9608, 10428. 
Gain of the wheel $77.” 

This is but a sample announcement from many 
reported in the columns of the daily papers of that 
period. 

No wonder Treasurer Hollins, of a later genera- 
tion, double-marked this item in his ancestor's ac- 
count book. In a foot note in pencil he remarks: 
“When I called Dr. R. J. Breckinridge’s attention to 


JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, D. D. 
SECOND PASTOR 
ASSOCIATE PASTOR 1826-1829 
IN FULL CHARGE 1829-1831 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 33 


this item, he told me he regretted it, but it was lost in 
the good God had done to the church.”’ 

Can we say to that generation, as Peter did to the 
generation which crucified the Messiah, “I wot that 
through ignorance ye did it.” 

We wonder at the patience and forbearance of 
God and can only comment upon His subsequently 
so greatly blessing the gospel ministrations of our 
church, by remembering what Paul says to the 
Athenians concerning their ancestry: “The times 
of this ignorance God winked at, but now, com- 
mandeth all men everywhere to repent.’’ We hope 
and pray this sin has been confessed and forgiven. 

The ground for the Second Presbyterian Church 
was secured March 11, 1803, by John McKim, Jr., 
and Henry Payson from James Stirling for the sum 
of $4,000. This parcel of ground is described as 
follows: “All that piece or parcel of ground lying 
and being on the east side of Jones’ Falls. 
Beginning for the same on the south side of York 
street (Baltimore) at the distance of 284 feet east- 
erly from the southeasterly corner of intersection of 
York and Exeter streets, and running thence east- 
erly bounding on York street to Lloyd street, thence 
southerly, bounding on Lloyd street to Salisbury 
street, thence westerly bounding on Salisbury street 
until it intersects a line drawn southerly from the 
place of beginning and parallel with Lloyd street, 


34 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


and thence bounding on said line to the beginning on 
York street.” 

They agreed in the deed of sale recorded March 
25, 1803, to convey and assure the same to the per- 
sons to be styled the “trustees of the Second Presby- 
terian congregation in the city of Baltimore,” as 
soon as the said persons shall be duly elected to office 
by the said congregation. 

From the minutes of the Presbytery of Baltimore, 
volume I, page 141, it appears that it was not until 
the 9th of August, 1803, that Dr. Glendy was 
received into the fellowship of the Presbytery and 
the existence of the Second Congregation formally 
acknowledged. The extract reads: “Papers rela- 
tive to a society calling themselves the Second Pres- 
byterian Church of the City of Baltimore were read 
and considered and the Presbytery recognized the 
existence of a distinct worshipping society in the 
City of Baltimore under the name and style afore- 
said and received them under their care.” 

(Signed) Davip Witey, Moderator. 

JAMEs Inatis, Clerk. 

Dr. Glendy had not been in Baltimore very long 
until he was called upon to mourn the departure of 
his beloved wife, the sharer of his persecutions in 
Ireland and of the perils of the deep, and hoping, no 
doubt, to be his inspiration and joy for many years 
in his new and promising field of labor. Mrs. Eliza- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 35 


beth Glendy passed away June 13, 1804, and was 
buried with becoming ceremonies in the Presby- 
terian burying ground on the 15th of the same 
month. 

Presbytery seems to have moved very leisurely in 
the matter of the “induction” of Dr. Glendy as that 
event did not take place until the first Saturday in 
April, 1805. 

In the Baltimore American for April 15, 1805, 
there appeared an account of this event: 

“On Saturday morning, April 6, the settlement of 
the Rev. Mr. Glendy as pastor of the Second Pres- 
byterian Congregation was solemnized in their 
church. The Rev. Mr. Balch began the service with 
prayer and singing, as usual, after which he ad- 
dressed the audience from Dan. 12:3, “They that be 
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, 
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
forever and ever.” 

“Ministers,” he said, “having been made wise by 
Divine grace, are qualified to turn others to right- 
eousness and they are instrumental in effecting this 
purpose ; 

1. By their own example. 

2. By reproving the wicked when they meet with 
them. 

3. By visiting and catechizing the individuals and 
families of their flock. 


36 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


4. By preaching the word of God. 

5. By the administration of the sacraments and a 
judicious application of the censures of the church. 

Those who turn others to righteousness shall 
shine with great splendor in the next world. Those 
ministers who do not their duty shall be as wander- 
ing stars for whom is reserved the blackness of dark- 
ness.” 

Dr. Muir, who presided as moderator, then deliy- 
ered a short address on the nature of the Christian 
Church, asked the usual questions, received the re- 
plies from the minister and the people, and made a 
few remarks upon the mutual duties of a pastor and 
his charge, reading selected parts of Paul’s Epistles 
to Timothy. 

But the doctor spoke so exceedingly low that it 
was impossible to understand him. In the general 
wish we heartily join, that the Union may be pro- 
ductive of the most beneficial consequences both to 
the pastor, the congregation and the city.” 

The history of John Glendy, to be so interwoven 
with the beginnings of Presbyterianism in Baltimore, 
was already an interesting and inspiring one. He 
came to America from the little village of Maghera, 
County Derry, Ireland, where he was pastor of a 
Presbyterian Church. This little village has had a 
very long history, dating back to the Golden Age of 
Irish civilization, when it was a place of some impor- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 37 


tance. From the Sixth to the Twelfth centuries it 
was the seat of a bishopric. In the year 1722 there 
was a Protestant population in and around Maghera, 
partly Presbyterian, most of them from Scotland. 
There is good ground for believing, however, that 
the First Presbyterian Congregation was formed in 
Maghera about the year 1655. The congregation 
passed through two severe persecutions—the first in 
1660 under Charles, and the second in 1798, for 
which, however, severe the loss to the Presbyterian 
cause in and around Maghera the Presbyterians of 
Baltimore in general and the Second Presbyterian 
Church in particular, are indebted for their first pas- 
tor, Rev. John Glendy. 

Here let me quote from the sketch of his early his- 
tory, prepared for this volume by the present pastor 
of Maghera Presbyterian Church, Rev. Robert Mac- 
Gill, M. A., Ph. D., who, upon our solicitation, has 
kindly made the necessary investigation among the 
available resources of information at his hand. 

John Glendy was born near the city of Derry on 
the 24th of June, 1755. He was educated in the 
University of Glasgow, licensed to preach in 1777, 
and ordained minister of Maghera on December 26, 
1778. His wife was a Miss Cresswell, of Derry. 
They lived in a house a short distance from the vil- 
lage, to which was attached a farm of some ten or 
twelve acres. The farm is occupied at present by a 


38 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


respectable Roman Catholic family called Shivers. 
From the congregation he received £50 of stipend. 
In addition to that he got the Regium Donum, which 
may have amounted to anything between £30 and 
£40 per annum. All told, his income as minister at 
Maghera was less than £80 a year. This sum seems 
small, but on the other hand it should be remembered 
that the buying power of money was greater then 
than now, and that of the 183 Presbyterians congre- 
gations in Ulster in the year 1799 almost 100 paid 
less than £50 of stipend. 

The first important work done by Mr. Glendy in 
Maghera was the building of a new church. The 
old one on Fair Hill was in a dilapidated condition, 
and in 1785 he obtained a new site, and erected a 
new building. His church was ruined in ’98, but 
the site chosen by him is that on which the present 
church stands. Of the work of Mr. Glendy as a 
pastor there is little information available. The 
Sabbath services were longer then than now. He 
began at 11 o'clock and finished at 3, with a short 
interval at 1. Sermons then were both long and 
strong. The local tradition is that as a preacher, 
Mr. Glendy was eloquent and forcible. His de- 
livery, it is said, was rather fast, but his voice was 
pleasing, his manner energetic, and his matter good. 
His preaching attracted large audiences and excited 
the jealousy of the rector (of the established church) 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 39 


a fact not without consequences in the troubled year 
of ’98. 

After the building of the new church Mr. Glendy 
took a keen interest in the social and political move- 
ments of the times. To make clear this part of my 
story, something must be said about the general con- 
dition of Ireland in his youth and this again requires 
a brief sketch of the Irish policy pursued by English 
statesmen for generations. 

The vast majority of the people of Ireland were 
Roman Catholics and the remainder were divided 
between the Protestant established church and the 
Protestant non-conformity churches. It had long 
been one of the great ideas of English statesmen to 
compel all the people of Ireland to enter the estab- 
lished church. For this purpose penal laws were 
passed against the Roman Catholics, and a series of 
acts—uniformity, test and schism acts—were 
framed against the Presbyterians. Although these 
laws were not always put into operation in all the 
rigor of their letter, they yet created a state of things 
in Ireland that is almost incredible. The members 
of the established church were only about one-eighth 
of the total population of Ireland, yet they alone 
could vote at elections, they alone were eligible for 
office, civil or military, they alone could enter Parlia- 
ment, they dominated education, monopolized the 
liberal professions and formed the landed gentry. 


49 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Time after time Presbyterian churches and schools 
were closed. Presbyterian marriages were illegal. 
Presbyterians could not act as teachers and such was 
the stress of persecution that multitudes of them 
emigrated to America. The Roman Catholics were 
in a still worse plight. Parish priests were per- 
mitted to exercise their spiritual functions, but no 
high dignitary of the church, no cardinal, archbishop 
or bishop was allowed to remain in Ireland. Monks 
and nuns, too, were prohibited. When a parish 
priest died no successor could lawfully continue his 
work. A Roman Catholic could hold no office in 
the country. He could not enter Parliament or any 
of the liberal professions, or sit on a jury, or act asa 
sheriff, a teacher or game keeper. Catholic parents 
were forbidden to send their children to Catholic 
teachers, either at home or abroad, nor dare they 
apprentice their sons to lawyers or the cutlery trade. 
They could not acquire freehold land, they could not 
buy or sell property at will. They could not keep 
arms or a horse that was worth more than £5. 
Laws were passed to turn the children against the 
parents. The eldest son, for example, could secure 
his father’s wealth by becoming a member, however 
insincere, of the established church. 

It might be thought that an Irish Parliament so 
safeguarded could be entrusted to govern Ireland 
with due regard to the interests of the Predominant 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 41 


Partner, but such was not the opinion of English 
statesmen. No bill could be brought before the 
Trish Parliament until it was approved of under the 
great seal of England. Besides by a pension scheme 
many of the members of the Irish Parliament were 
held in dependence, so that in both these ways Eng- 
land ruled the Irish administration. Nor must the 
commercial policy of English statesmen with regard 
to Ireland be forgotten. By a series of acts they 
completely ruined Irish agriculture, industry and 
commerce. English markets were closed to Irish 
cattle in 1663. The taxes for the established church 
came solely from the tillers of the soil, and the main- 
tenance of roads, bridges, etc., was levied in work 
and tax upon the same class. The wretched farmers 
had a further burden to carry, due to the fact that 
many of the landlords were absentees and let their 
estates to rack-renting middlemen. 

In 1663 Ireland was deprived of the advantages of 
trade with the colonies, as the English feared com- 
petition. For the same reason the export of Irish 
wool was so regulated that the English buyer could 
have it at his own price, and a heavy duty was put 
upon Irish linen stuffs. It is little wonder that the 
result of this policy was that capital left Ireland, 
manufacturers emigrated and enterprise was par- 
alyzed. A famine broke out in 1739 that killed, it 
is said, one-third of the population, and it only 


42 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


needed the embargo on Irish ports in 1776, forbid- 
ding the export of provisions, to complete the finan- 
cial ruin of the country. It is not surprising that 
there was widespread dissatisfaction in Ireland and 
that a strong agitation sprang up calling for reform. 
Under pressure of that agitation from within and 
double from without, England began to make con- 
cessions. But these came only piecemeal and after 
keen struggle. Meantime the American colonies 
fought for and won their independence, the French 
Revolution had triumphed and the not unnatural 
consequence in Ireland was the rise of a party—the 
United Irishmen—that demanded the equality of all 
creeds in matters political, the extension of the fran- 
chise, the freedom of trade, the reform of Parlia- 
ment and a large measure of national autonomy. 

That the United Irishmen sought national separa- 
tion from England from the first is not true, though 
that eventually became the policy of their extreme 
leaders. At first, too, they proceeded along consti- 
tutional lines, and so long as they kept to constitu- 
tional methods they were supported by many mem- 
bers of the Protestant established church, and by the 
great body of non-conformists, both lay and clerical. 
On the adoption of more violent methods they lost 
much of this support. In ’g1 the first branch was 
formed in Belfast and from that year their organ- 
ization grew with remarkable rapidity. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 43 


Fortunate, there is documentary evidence of Mr. 
Glendy’s attitude to the new party. In the “North- 
ern Star,” the Belfast organ of the United Irishmen, 
there appeared a notice of a sermon preached by Mr. 
Glendy in his own church at Maghera in December, 
*92. According to this notice Mr. Glendy exhibited 
on this great occasion distinguished abilities in a 
manly, disinterested and public-spirited manner, 
having displayed, with peculiar energy, the signal 
interposition of Heaven on behalf of the French 
nation.” This notice speaks for itself and sufficiently 
indicates that Mr. Glendy was in full sympathy with 
the principles of the United Irishmen as at first for- 
mulated. 

In Maghera a corps of United Irishmen was 
formed called the “Maghera National Guards,” in 
which Catholics and Episcopalians and Presbyter- 
ians alike enrolled themselves. There is no evidence 
to show that Mr. Glendy was either an organizer, an 
officer or a member of that corps, while there is 
abundant testimony that he took no part in the actual 
rising. He was undoubtedly in sympathy with the 
movement in its beginning, but he did not proceed to 
any act of actual rebellion, probably on the principle 
that rebellion is only justifiable when it is likely to 
be successful. 

In ’98 the rising took place, but it was doomed to 
failure from the first.. There was a lack of arms and 


44 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


ammunition, of organization, of discipline, and of 
leadership and a few days were sufficient to stamp it 
out. The Maghera Corps, about 5,000 strong, as- 
sembled on the 7th of June, 1798. Only about 500 
had firearms—the remainder carried pikes, pitch- 
forks and spades. They held the town that night 
and marched next morning to Crewe Hill, about a 
mile from the village. On the first appearance of 
the soldiers they disbanded, some of them turned 
loyalist, but most of them went quietly home. Two 
of their leaders, William McKeiver and William 
Harper, escaped to America; the other, Walter Gra- 
ham, was foully betrayed and executed. 

As stated, Mr. Glendy took no part in the actual 
rising. His sympathies, however, were well known 
and he wasa marked man. Mrs. Glendy fled to her 
friends in Derry and he himself went into hiding. 
His house was burnt, his property destroyed and 
search was made for him. , 

Not far from his house was a place called “The 
Groves.” It was deeply wooded and covered with 
brush and one part of it lay low. It belonged to a 
Mr. Wilson, who had been a Presbyterian and a 
member of Mr. Glendy’s congregation, but becoming 
dissatisfied with Mr. Glendy’s political tendencies, 
had entered the established church, and had thus the 
advantage of being certified as a loyalist by the rec- 
tor. In this low-lying and swampy place, safe from 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 45 


inspection of the military because owned by an ac- 
knowledged loyalist and opponent of Mr. Glendy’s, 
the minister of Maghera found security for about a 
fortnight. 

It is greatly to the credit of Mr. Wilson’s memory 
that he did not betray the pastor with whom he had 
quarrelled and that he helped to supply him with eat- 
ables during his retreat. In his lair the present Mr. 
Wilson, a good Presbyterian, found some years ago 
two guineas when felling the trees and removing the 
brush. At the end of about a fortnight Mr. Glendy 
decided to attempt an escape. From a woman, 
called Sarah McQuirken, he obtained a petticoat, 
cloak, bonnet and a pair of Martens (stockings with- 
out feet.) He donned these garments, dressed his 
long hair in female fashion and crept from his lair. 
He was discovered and almost captured at the very 
beginning. Two men observed him and one of 
them cried out, “By Heaven that is Glendy!” and 
prepared to give chase. The other, however, was a 
good Presbyterian. He seized his companion, who 
was a magistrate, an Episcopalian, and a bigoted 
Tory, and said: “Well, if it is Glendy you and I 
will have no part in putting the rope around his 
neck.” He held him until Mr. Glendy disappeared. 
Making towards Tobermore, Mr. Glendy met a lady 
whom he knew he could trust and the lady walked 
to Tobermore, almost two miles, with him. They 


46 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


went by the public road and they met a company of 
soldiers. The lady’s presence, however, saved Mr. 
Glendy, and he made his way without much diffi- 
culty to Derry, and from Derry to America. When 
saying farewell to the lady, he told her that if he 
reached America in safety he would send her a silver 
spoon. He kept his promise, and the silver spoon 
is at present in possession of one of the lady’s grand- 
daughters. He also sent Sarah McQuirken a sum 


of money with which to buy clothes in place of those 


he had taken. She did not, however, have this 
pleasure, for she remarked somewhat plaintively to 
a neighbor, “My mither bought a coo with it.” 

Dr. Glendy is not the only distinguished son of 
Maghera, though they were not all :so pitilessly 
thrust out as he had been. Hundreds of the best of 
the Presbyterian congregation have come to the 
United States, to the British Colonies and to the 
larger towns oi Great Britain and Ireland. Of very 
few oi these has failure been registered. The Pres- 
byterians of South Derry possess the best qualities 
oi the Ulster Scot, shrewdness, sobriety, thrift, dog- 
ged perseverance and indomitable courage, and they 
have distinguished themselves wherever they went. 
In Maghera have grown up some of the ablest min- 
isters of our church—men like Revs. Jackson Gra- 
ham, W. McCullagh, Joseph Barkley, Thomas Lytle, 
John MacMillan and Robert G. Milling. Rev. Wil- 


———_ i - 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 47 


liam Patterson, the distinguished minister of Beth- 
any Church, Philadelphia, is a Maghera man, and 
the great Dr. Cooke was baptized in Maghera by 
Rey. John Glendy.” 

All honor to the little town. Our Lord did not 
despise a little town in the day of his birth, and he 
seems ever since with peculiar providence to bring 
forward the little fellows of the little towns, that He 
may make of them the mighty ones of earth and 
through them build up the great enterprises of men. 
Today Maghera congregation, stronger than when 
Mr. Glendy left it so distracted and disrupted more 
than one hundred years ago, sends the greeting of 
her 1,100 souls across the Atlantic to the congrega- 
tion he did so much to organize upon his coming to 
Baltimore, today full of vitality and zeal. But 
though the Maghera of today may be much the same 
as the Maghera of the days of Dr. Glendy, the Balti- 
more of today is vastly different from the little 
struggling city which greeted him upon his arrival. 
Maghera may well be proud of him; America is glad 
she did not keep him. 

At Derry, being joined by his faithful wife, he 
was compelled to embark on an old, unseaworthy 
vessel, crowded with immigrants as eager as him- 
self to escape the rigorous persecution of a narrow- 
minded statesmanship. Soon after putting to sea, 
the passengers and crew were forced to man the 


48 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


pumps to keep the old hulk afloat. It was with the 
greatest difficulty they made harbor at Norfolk, Va., 
sometime in the year 1799. The poor emigrants 
were in such a wretched condition that the captain 
of the vessel, taking pity upon them, requested Dr. 
Glendy to preach for their benefit in the courthouse 
of the town, for there was no Presbyterian Church 
in the place. The sermon must have been one of 
marked power, for several distinguished lawyers 
were thereby influenced to make inquiry into Dr. 
Glendy’s previous history, and upon ascertaining, 
extended to both Dr. Glendy and his worthy wife, 
who had shared all his perils and labors with loyal 
devotion, a most cordial welcome, while all the good 
people of the town vied to do them honor. Dr, 
Glendy soon found that he was not robust enough to 
stand the climate of Norfolk, and upon the advice of 
a physician, went to Staunton, Va. He had not 
been there very long until he was called to assume 
the pastoral care of two churches—Staunton and 
Bethel—both in Augusta county, Va. These con- 
gregations he supplied for two years. 

While preaching in these obscure places he became 
acquainted with Thomas Jefferson, then President of 
the United States, who greatly admired him and 
invited him to Washington for a visit. His sermon 
preached in Washington attracted much attention, 
which, together with Jefferson’s fondness for him, 


ROBERT JEFFERSON BRECKINRIDGE, D. D. 
THIRD PASTOR 
1832-1845 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 49 


soon noised abroad his fame and made him prom- 
inent in the minds of the Presbyterians of Baltimore 
as a worthy successor of the great Dr. Patrick 
Allison. 


CHAPTER Tie 
IN THE DAYS OF DR. GLENDY. 


The story of the minority in the election which 
followed the death of Dr. Allison and their with- 
drawal from the membership of the First Church to 
form the Second Presbyterian Congregation and 
their calling Dr. John Glendy has already been told 
in these pages. 

It will be readily seen from the foregoing that the 
Second Presbyterian Church had no struggling 
beginning, but at once stepped out upon the field of 
action, strong and vigorous, well equipped in means, 
in brain, in religious conviction and courage, with a 
leader of tried character and known ability and 
ripened experience as pastor and preacher. Of the 
congregations which crowded the church in those 
days, an early writer says: “As the church was 
built expressly for him, it was crowded for many 
years and great harmony prevailed. It is to be 
hoped that much good was done, as there were many 
who took pews who had never attached themselves 
to any church before.” 

When the new church was ready for the congrega- 
tion there was found to be an applicant for nearly 
every pew. The list of those purchasing or renting 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


51 


pews, for that was the invariable system pursued in 
those days, made out the 2d of July, 1804, is as fol- 
lows, together with number of the pew bought or 


rented : 
PURCHASERS. 
Pew Pew 
No. No. 
I Jno.,Thos. and Wm. 18 Thomas Dobbin. 
Dixon. Ig James Beaman. 


2 Alex. Mitchell. 
3 David Stodder and 
David Brown. 
4 Wales and Clopper. 
5 Abm. Van Bibber. 
6 Joseph Spear. 
'7 John Gooding and 
Thos. Hutchins. 
8 David Burke. 
9 Alex. Gallagher. 
10 James Ramsey. 
11 Captain John Cun- 
ningham. 
12 Thomas Greer and 
Dr. McKenzie. 
13 Dr. Smull. 
14 Samuel McKim. 
15 S. Vickery. 
16 Dr. Coulter. 
17 Joseph Kidder. 


20 John Lee and Dr. 
Moore. 

21 P. Clopper. 

22 James Hambleton. 

23 Talbot Jones. 

24 John Henderson. 

25 John and William 
Gordon. 

26 Benj. C. Calhoun. 

27 Wm. Thompson. 

28 John Spedden. 

29 Wm. Lee Forman. 

30 Captain Carr. 

31 Ralph Smith. 

32 Captain Chase. 

33 James Calwell. 

34 Nath’l. Thompson. 

35 Thomas Colwell. 

36 Samuel Williams. 

37 George Stiles. 


52 


61 Thos. McElderry. 


ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


PURCHASERS. 

No. ne 
38 James Biays. 62 James Sloan. 
39 John Hollins. 63 Samuel Smith. 
40 James Hutton. 64 Hugh McCurdy. 
41 Hugh Neilson. 65 John McKim, Jr. 
42 James Purviance. 66 John Kennedy. 
43 Andrew Parks. 67 Kennedy Long. 
44 William Pechin. 68 Wm. Patterson, Jr. 
45 H. Alricks. 69 M. McBlair. 
46 Wm.McDonald and 70 John Borland. 

D. Armour. 71 David Cochran and 
47 John Barron and R. Moore. 

McQuin. 72 Theodk. Bland. 
48 James Fulton. 73 Snyman and Lamb. 
49 John Riddell. 74 James Gunn. 
50 G. Gordon. 75 John McKane and 
51 Hugh Hazleton. N. G. Bryson. 
52 Robert Dunwoody. 76 Patk. Dinsmore and 
53 Lyon & Sweeting. A. George. 
54 James Beatty. 77 Wm. Southward: 
55 William Vance. 78 Hans Crewy. 
56 Cumberland Dugan. 79 Robert Lawson and 
57 Dr. Aitkin. W. Camp. 
58 William Norris. 80 Nathaniel Andrews. 
59 Henry Payson. 81 Wm. Wilson. 
60 James Armstrong. 82 Matthew Steen. 


Ed. N. Clopper. 


Pew 


No. 
84 Mrs. Galbraith. 

85 Andrew Cross. 

86 H. Buckler. 

87 Wm. Hazlett. 

88 John McIntyre. 

89 James Martin. 

90 Joseph Smith. 

o1 Dr. J. C. White. 

92 Thomas Moore and 
D. Fulton. 

93 John Parks. 

94 Joel M. Munson. 
95 William Barney. 
96 Alexander Brown. 
97 Warner & Hanna. 
98 Rev. Dr. Glendy. 
99 John Haslip and 
John McKinnell 
100 Daniel Peters and 
John James. 

101 

102 

103 

104 James Thompson. 
105 Wm. McConkey. 
106 Wm. McCormick. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 53 


109g 

110 Thomas Dewitt. 

111 John Neilson and 
William Fulton. 

112 William McCleary. 

113 Jeremiah Kilpatrick 


and Jos. Bryan. 
114 Dr. Shanley. 
II5 
116 
117 


118 Thomas Leaman. 
119 Thomas Sinclear. 
120 peo Lowry. 


Occupied by 


: 
123 / 
the choir. 


| 
129 James Long. 


54 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


PURCHASERS. 
Pew Pew 
No. No. 
130 Geo. Milleman (ar- 140 J. Kennedy and J. 
chitect of church.) Baillie. 


131 Robert Spencer. 141 John Henry. 

132 Wm. Neilson and 142 James Craig. 
John Duncan. 143 Robert Herring and 

133 John Morrow. 

134 William Stirling. 144 Robert Graham. 

135 P. Caughey and 145 Daniel Davidson. 
John Monteith. 146 Henry Starr. 

136 Christian Stemner. 147 

137 John Bryson. 148 

138 Anthony Law. 149 Henry Long. 

139 Lawson Newman. 150 Dr. Crawford. 


In 1805 Dr. Glendy was appointed chaplain of the 
House of Representatives and ten years later, 1815, 
by resolution of the Senate and the acquiescence of 
his session, served the Senate in the same capacity. 

Will it startle the Second Presbyterian Congrega- 
tion of today when they learn that their first pastor 
wore a gown? And that the same committee ap- 
pointed to purchase the first communion set for the 
congregation, March 11, 1805, was also to purchase 
the gown? This pulpit costume must certainly have 
presented a striking contrast to his everyday attire, 
which, as Boulden says, “was like that of the fine 
old reverend gentlemen—short breeches and knee 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 55 


buckles, hair powdered and queued.” In May, 1805, 
Dr. Glendy’s name appears upon the roll of the Gen- 
eral Assembly as a delegate from Baltimore Pres- 
bytery. It soon became apparent to the congrega- 
tion that they must take steps to secure a burial 
ground for the proper care of their sacred dead. 
Investigation was begun of available ground which 
resulted in a definite report to the committee in ses- 
sion May 13, 1806, which report and action is re- 
corded in the following language: “The committee 
was informed by one of its members that General S. 
Smith had generously offered to accommodate the 
congregation with two acres of land for a burying 
ground, situated on the road to Belair, near where it 
intersects the road leading to Fell’s Point, and on the 
same terms that he obtained it at auction, which is 
$— per acre and interest thereon from the 
of 


day 


Whereupon, resolved that the president be re- 
quested to convey to General Smith the thanks of the 
committee in behalf of the congregation for his gen- 
erosity and liberality, in this instance so conspicu- 
ously manifested. 

That Messrs. Thomas McElderry and Thomas 
Dickson proceed to have the said lots surveyed, 
fenced with posts and rails, and laid out in suitable 
lots for a burying ground. 


56 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


It will readily be seen that these two men had no 
small task assigned them, but as if to suggest its lit- 
tleness in their eyes the committee at the same meet- 
ing appointed a committee of three to procure a cur- 
tain for the pulpit and a carpet for the stairs. 

In this same year the congregation leased from 
John McKim a piece of ground on the west end of 
the church having a frontage of eight feet on York 
street at an annual rental of $4 per front foot. This 
lease was executed September 22, 1806, and recorded 
January 28, 1807. 

The purchase of a burial ground from General 
Smith seems to have been abandoned for some rea- 
son, for the committee bought December 24, 1807, a 
piece of ground for that purpose. The deed was 
recorded February 28, 1808. 

This piece of ground contained about two acres, 
so the deed states, and cost at auction $1,051, “good 
and lawful money.” It was considered at that time 
to be an immense distance from the city, being situ- 
ated in what was known as Cole’s Addition, on the 
northwest side of the Belair Road (now Gay street), 
fronting 170 feet on this road and containing about 
two acres. This came to be known as the Glendy 
burying ground, situated when Boulden wrote, at 
the head of Broadway, fronting on Gay street. This 
burial ground was enclosed by a substantial brick 
wall. In the course of a very short time there was 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 57 


built within this ‘“God’s acre’ those massive stone 
mausoleums which still defy time’s fiercest assaults. 
It is not too high a tribute to pay to the farsighted- 
ness of the guiding spirits of the Second Church to 
say that while other churches were content with a 
burying ground around their church building, these 
men, by thus purchasing a burial ground far from the 
centre of the city, indicated a wisdom prophetic of 
the city’s future prosperity and expansiveness, quite 
remarkable for those days. They were the business 
and professional men of the city in their day and did 
much to shape its commercial policy and were in 
themselves the assurance of its ultimate success and 
growth. 

This burying ground has had a most interesting 
history and one which, recalling the names of the 
loyal dead entombed there, will be found to occupy no 
insignificant place as a ““Mecca’’ for sturdy Presbyte- 
rians seeking an inspiration in the hallowed names 
of “long ago,” and for citizens seeking to pay tribute 
to the worth of men who helped to make our city 
great. We must defer, however attractive the 
theme, the consideration of those sacred names until 
the proper time for recording its passing out of the 
hands of the trustees of the Second Presbyterian 
Church into the custody of the Presbyterian Associa- 
tion. There occurred no event worthy of record 
until the year 1811, a momentous one for the con- 


58 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


gregation, for then they elected and ordained their 
first Session. The record reads: “On the last Lord’s 
day in April, 1811, in strict conformity with the 
principle and discipline of the Presbyterian Church, 
the undernamed members of this congregation were 
ordained elders by their stated pastor with the unani- 
mous approbation of said worshipping society, viz: 
Alexander Brown, James Sloan, James Beatty, Wil- 
liam Vance, Robert Steuart, William McDonald, 
William McConkey, William Camp and John Craw- 
ford. At the first meeting of the session James 
Beatty was elected Session Clerk. The Committee 
still continued to transact the temporal affairs of the 
congregation, leaving the conduct of the spiritual 
entirely in the hands of the Session. There was pur- 
chased in this year by the Committee for the use of 
the congregation a bier and pall, the pall to be of 
“cotton velvet with fringe and tassels.” This was 
done at a cost of $90. 

The picture of the old church, which is in posses- 
sion of the Peabody Library of this city, presents the 
church building with neither wall nor railing sur- 
rounding it, but there is before us in the records of 
this committee that the old wall, the front wall of 
the church yard, was ordered torn down and to be 
rebuilt with two gates for entrance. This order 
resulted, perhaps, in the wall surmounted by an iron 
fence, which is shown about the church, in an old 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 59 


picture in the possession of Mr. Frank R. Haynes, 
now of our Session. 

Dr. Joseph T. Smith, in his excellent history of 
the Second Church contained in his book entitled 
“Eighty Years,” says: “In 1814 we find the first 
notice of offering for the extension of the kingdom, 
etc.,”” this should be corrected, for we find that Dr. 
Glendy, who had been appointed a delegate of the 
Presbytery to attend the General Assembly in 1811, 
was authorized to contribute for the congregation 
$60 to the missionary fund. 

One of the first duties to which the session 
directed its attention, February 10, 1812, was the 
matter of regular attendance upon the afternoon ser- 
vice (now it is the evening service, a very old 
problem, you will perceive), and it was resolved 
unanimously that each member of the Session shall, 
as far as counsel and example can influence, begin- 
ning with his own family, urge and entreat a more 
reverential attention to the public duties of the 
Christian Sabbath.” That was a wise and righteous 
beginning. They leave us wondering what the 
result may have been. 

The Session this year began to hold its meetings 
quarterly. There must have been in the Session an 
elder who believed in the apostolic character of the 
Presbyterian Church, for in 1813 we find them 
discussing the question of the duty and advisability 


60 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


of increasing their number to the number of the 
Apostles. Strange duties, too, were laid upon Dr. 
Glendy, who was ordered by the committee to see 
that the sexton “have all the pews and the wooden 
work of the church completely washed out (hardly) 
with pearl ashes and water and that afterwards he 
shall keep the house well swept out so as to keep it 
free from dust and that the house should be well 
aired every Saturday.” 

Agreeable to the rules of the General Assembly a 
report presented by the pastor to the Session Jan- 
uary 27, 1814, states that up to November 21, 
1812, he had baptized 2 adults and 93 infants, and 
that 52 communicants were added to the church and 
that the year ending November 21, 1813, he had 
baptized 5 adults and 89 infants and that 51 com- 
municants had been added to the church. Upon 
reading this record one feels torn between a desire 
to sing with the psalmist, “Blessed is the man who 
hath his quiver filled with those,” and to quote the 
record in the acts, “believers were the more added to 
the Lord.” 

The custom seems to have originated in this year 
of appointing elders at each communion to provide 
the elements for the Sacrament. 

Thomas Sheppard was elected and ordained an 
elder and another contribution made to the mission- 
ary fund of the General Assembly, this time amount- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 61 


ing to $50, while a like sum was paid to the Presby- 
tery towards finishing the education of a student of 
theology. The commissioners to the General 
Assembly that year were also instructed to pledge 
the congregation ‘“‘at as early a day as possible, to 
make a public collection for the support of a Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

For some time prior to the year 1817 a grave con- 
troversy had arisen in the church as to the propriety 
of admitting into membership persons holding Arian 
or Socinian doctrines, which culminated in the Pres- 
bytery of Baltimore sending down to the churches 
the following order, to be read from the pulpit: 
Resolved unanimously that it be the duty of pastors 
and Sessions in admitting persons to sealing ordin- 
ances, whether on examination or certificate, to en- 
quire particularly into their profession of the doc- 
trines above mentioned and of their views of the 
character of our Saviour, and to exclude from these 
ordinances all persons professing Arian or Socinian 
doctrines, or denying the essential divinity of Christ ; 
or, if admitted, to exclude from these ordinances 
after proper and Christian endeavor to reclaim them 
from their errors.” After the deliberations of two 
sessional meetings, the matter was indefinitely post- 
poned. Weare constrained to believe from reasons 
of a politic character, as Dr. John Breckinridge 
shows in his introductory statement to the roll of the 


62 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


congregation as compiled by him: “I never received 
any list of former members from the senior pastor, 
and on being applied to at the time of leaving us, he 
declined to give one. Many persons who had once 
communed with the church withdrew from its com- 
munion in the winter of 1826-27 (the time of Dr. 
Breckinridge’s coming to the Second Church) on a 
discovery of the fact, that they had mistaken entirely 
the nature of a Christian profession. Some have 
been readmitted on a profession of faith in Christ 
and obedience to Him; some have never been known 
to me and many of this character are now in the con- 
gregation, but from the peculiar circumstances of the 
church they have been permitted to withdraw with- 
out any act of discipline.” 

- That question, which has arisen like “Banquo’s 
ghost,” to trouble the deliberations of so many Pres- 
byteries, as to the presence in court, as Presbyters, of 
those lacking a pastoral charge, seems to be of long 
standing, if we are to judge from the attitude of the 
session of the Second Church on the subject Novem- 
ber 18, 1819. This resolution was passed: “That 
our representatives to the next stated meeting of 
Presbytery, be instructed to remonstrate against pay- 
ing the expenses of members attending the Presby- 
tery, except such as have charges to represent.” In 
1821 they decided to pay the expenses of only their 
own representatives. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 63 


The office of collector of pew rents was evidently 
no sinecure in those days, for it carried with it a 
salary, and frequently necessitated upon the part of 
the Board of Trustees a resolution such as the fol- 
lowing of November 29, 1819: “Resolved, That an 
advertisement be inserted in two of the newspapers 
of this city for a collector and a sexton.” He must 
also give bond in the sum of $2,000 for the faithful 
performance of the trust imposed upon him. 

There are two items of importance decided upon 
during the year 1820. During that year the Sab- 
bath school was organized with thirteen pupils, all 
females, as Dr. Smith informs us. For their in- 
struction teachers were assigned to the number of 
twenty-three, who taught in rotation. The session 
also appointed a committee to select a site and make 
an estimate for building “‘a Sabbath day school and 
Session house for the use of the congregation.” 

There does not appear upon our church records 
any account of the founding of this school, except 
one little item in the minutes of 1824, but we have a 
record of the organization of “The Second Presby- 
terian Church Male Sabbath School Society,” at a 
meeting of a number of the male members of the 
church, held March 5, 1821. They adopted a con- 
stitution, in which they stated their object to be “to 
promote the religious instruction of male children by 
teaching them to read the scriptures.” It was their 


64 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


purpose to reach the children of non-church goers, in 
which they met with a fair measure of success, for in 
the annual report of the secretary for 1823, he com- 
plains of some subscribers to the society who refused 
to become subscribers for another year and adds: 
“The very evident effect of such institutions (Sab- 
bath schools) in moralizing youths who have been 
disgraces to society and annoyances to the quietness 
and peacefulness of the Sabbath is too well known 
to be particularly noticed here. We ourselves can 
vouch for the beneficial results of Sabbath school 
teaching. Boys of the most profane and unruly 
habits manifest a sorrow for their past conduct and 
have become regardful of that day, which served 
only to them as a holiday for the commission of mis- 
chief and vice. This proves that their depravity is 
owing to the neglect of their parents and shows that 
they can be directed successfully into the paths of 
virtue. The report shows the attendance to have 
been “from 18 to 20 regular scholars during the 
spring, summer and fall. There are from 30 to 35 
on the receiving book.’”’ Not a very large school, 
but the beginning of the splendid results of today. 
More of this anon. 

The first officers of this society were Gen. William 
McDonald, president; George G. Hobson, secretary 
and treasurer ; Mr. John Wilson, Col. William Stew- 
art and Mr. Adam Kyle, managers; Mr. W. H. 
Faceman, superintendent. 


LEWIS WARNER GREEN, D. D. 
FOURTH PASTOR 
1847-1848 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 65 


Dr. Glendy was accustomed to attend the school 
and open the session with prayer, but in 1823 asked 
to be relieved, pleading that duty would not permit 
him to come. He asked if the society approved of 
the attendance of Mr. B. T. Walsh, superintendent of 
a school on the Point, who had kindly volunteered his 
services. What strong pleas for support that noble 
band of men who officered the school sent out in 
their annual reports! We wish we could reproduce 
them in toto here. 

Who could better express the object of a Sabbath 
school? “It is not merely,” they say, “to teach the 
children to read. No, that is but a small part of the 
business. The great object of a Sabbath school is to 
form religious habits among the children—to point 
out God as their Heavenly Father and Christ their 
only Saviour.”’ Sadly they complain of their lack 
of ability to teach or to show forth those qualities, 
spoken of as so necessary, and then under the sense 
of their great responsibility and the crying need of 
the children, they burst out, “Come lend us your 
heart and hands to lead these little ones up to the 
Throne of Grace. Everyone of them has an im- 
mortal spirit. Everyone of them has an eternity 
before him—a heaven to enjoy; a hell to escape or 
endure. We speak not in our own name nor in the 
name of our cause. We speak in the name and 
cause of Our Master.” 


66 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Under such a spiritual management there was 
rapid growth. The children studied and recited por- 
tions of scripture, hymns and the catechism. Ex- 
aminations were held once a quarter in the presence 
of the parents to whom also a suitable address was 
to be made. A visiting committee was appointed at 
the annual meeting in 1824 who were to visit the 
scholars in their homes and so secure their more reg- 
ular attendance. The committee consisted of twelve 
men, each one to serve a month in the year. 

In 1826 Mr. T. S. Anderson became the superin- 
tendent of the school, which was every year render- 
ing flattering reports of progress in numbers and 
efficiency. Each year they elected five delegates to 
attend the Maryland Sunday School Union, which 
must have been formed but a short time previously. 
In 1827 Mr. Wallace Kincaid became the superinten- 
dent of the school. 

The importance of keeping a faithful and accurate 
record of the transactions of a congregation requires 
no demonstration here, though we may be pardoned 
this litle criticism on the worthy James Beatty, first 
clerk of the Session, since we find spread upon his 
minute book the following items in a bill of excep- 
tions by Presbytery’s examining committee: 

3. That several persons are recommended as 
elders and afterwards act as such without any min- 
ute being made of their election and ordination. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 67 


4. That no mention is made of the examination 
or admission of persons to the communion. 

This stricture was productive of beneficial results, 
for at the next meeting of the Session, November 21, 
1821, the pastor reported “that eleven members were 
added to the church at the last communion after min- 
isterial instruction and examination.” 

The question of the terms of the call to Dr. Glendy 
and the amount of salary stipulated was evidently a 
matter of discussion this year, for at a meeting of the 
committee, December 10, 1821, after hearing the 
statement of Dr. Glendy and upon his retiring the 
Board took the subject into “serious consideration” 
and resolved unanimously that Dr. Glendy’s salary 
should be $2,100 in full for house rent and salary. 
To this Dr. Glendy agreed. In 1822 the church was 
first lighted with lamps, the necessary committee 
being appointed to procure and install them. 


CHAPTER IV. 
CHOOSING A COLLEAGUE. 


Owing to the enfeebled condition of their pastor, 
the congregation was very desirous of securing for 
him a colleague or assistant, but knowing how averse 
to such an arrangement the Doctor was, were very 
reluctant about suggesting it to him. They decided 
to take the Presbytery into their confidence and act 
upon their advice. The Presbytery appointed the 
Rev. Elias Harrison, D. D., a very close friend of 
Dr. Glendy’s, to perform the delicate mission. Dr. 
Harrison found the aged minister seated in his chair, 
the very picture of woe, he being at that time in the 
midst of one of his periodical spells of depression. 
Though the day was very warm, the doors and win- 
dows were all tightly closed, while to insure no possi- 
ble ill results from any possible draughts, the Doctor 
had on a hat stuffed with cotton or wool, and 
wrapped about him a heavy winter cloak. He 
looked to be in the very last stages of decline. But 
the instant a cautious word or two made known the 
object of his brother’s visit, he was all animation and 
energy. 

He was evidently very angry, though showing no 
impoliteness (he never could) to the visiting brother 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 69 


and proved his anger both by look and word. His 
anger was directed against the Presbytery, which, 
he said, had transcended the limits of its allotted 
functions. He also expressed great surprise that his 
young and greatly esteemed brother, generally so 
very judicious, had consented to have any agency in 
so smalla concern. He then proposed a walk, which 
was evidently good medicine, for upon his return he 
said he felt better and promised to give the matter 
consideration, which was proof enough that he was 
better. 

Soon after this interview with Dr. Harrison and 
as a result of this “consideration,” he sent the fol- 
lowing letter to the Session, meeting November 22, 
1825, bearing date of November 21, 1825. The 
letter reads as follows: 

“Dr. Glendy presents his affectionate compliments 
to the members of Session and Committee and Con- 
gregation of the Second Presbyterian Church, earn- 
estly and anxiously requesting to know what portion 
of ministerial duties will be expected or required of 
him, after that you have elected his colleague. When 
his health and the state of the weather will permit 
he shall be ever ready and willing to render any min- 
isterial duties in his power. Heaven only knows, 
but in all human possibility in the common course of 
events he cannot long survive to be a tax on your 
generosity. 


70 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


“Tf it shall please the Most High to prolong his 
days until the 17th of February next, he will have 
been 50 years (half a century) a preacher of the 
everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. On 
the 24th day of June last he closed the seventieth 
year of his age. Pray, is the record of your book 
a sufficient guarantee for the new contract about to 
be made between the committee, the legal representa- 
tives of the congregation, and the stated pastor? Be 
pleased to instruct him how soon and on what terms 
and for what length of time he shall invite a min- 
ister on trial. / 

“Suffer him to counsel you; do not let it be for 
less time than four or six weeks. There are too 
many uneducated youths licensed to preach the Gos- 
pel in the United States, especially among the —. 
An ignorant minister is a disgrace to Presbyterian- 
ism and Christianity. ‘If the blind lead the blind,’ 
said our Blessed Lord, ‘both shall fall into the ditch.’ 
You shall have a trial, if God spare me, of the first 
talents and literary attainments and unaffected elocu- 
tion within the bounds of the General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church. Do not, I pray you, be 
too hasty in your choice. Your minister feels deeply 
interested on the occasion. ‘To the grace of God and 
His holy keeping, I recommend you all. Amen.” 

Dr. Glendy was requested by the Session to aid 
the Session clerk with a form of application to be 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. wfa 


addressed to several clergymen. The following was 
sent to Dr. Greene, of Princeton Seminary, and is 
worth reproducing as presenting the Doctor’s ideas 
of the essential qualifications of a minister of Jesus 
Christ and a fit associate in the pastorate of the Sec- 
ond Presbyterian Church: 


BaALtTimMoreE, November 24, 1825. 
Dr. GREENE. 

Dear Sir: The Rev. Dr. Glendy, stated pastor 
of the Second Presbyterian Church in this city, hav- 
ing communicated to the congregation his deter- 
mined resolution to have a colleague, conscientiously 
advised the Session to apply to you, sir, whose talents 
and principles and high standing in the Presbyterian 
Church they duly appreciate. They do, therefore, 
earnestly desire that you would have the goodness to 
recommend a candidate for said ministerial office. 
That he may be successful the following qualifica- 
tions are required: He must be sound in the faith; 
his religion without guile. His gravity must not be 
a mysterious carriage of the body, to conceal the 
defects of the mind, but a medium, equi-distant from 
levity and monkish austerity. He ought to possess 
rich talents, the gift of Heaven, burnished by a lib- 
eral education. He ought to be a polished scholar 
and complete gentleman. He ought to be constitu- 
tionally eloquent, superior to the studied oratory of 
the pulpit. He ought to have the command of lan- 


72 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


guage and felicity of address; above all the glory of 
God and the salvation of mankind. He ought not 
to read his sermons from the pulpit. Nothing less 
than four Lord’s days will be admitted as the time of 
trial to any candidate.” 

The congregation had already decided November 
6, 1825, to call a colleague and took the necessary 
steps, fixing the amount of salary and appointing a 
committee to confer with Dr. Glendy as to a relin- 
quishment of a portion of his salary. 

On the 17th of November the Committee of the 
congregation, after hearing the report of the com- 
mittee appointed to confer with Dr. Glendy, and 
after having the provisions of the call to Dr. Glendy 
read, agreed to pay to the Rev. Dr. Glendy during 
his life the sum of $1,200 per annum, to commence 
on the second day of January, 1826. 

The Committee’s action was agreed to by the con- 
gregation at its meeting November 21, 1825, when 
it was also stated that the venerable pastor had ex- 
pressed his cheerful acquiescence in what had been 
decided upon. On the 23rd of March following 
(1826) the congregation met to elect a colleague to 
Dr. Glendy. An appropriate discourse was preached 
by the Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Nevins. Three 
names were placed before the congregation—Rev. 
James W. Alexander, Rev. John Brackenridge (as 
it is spelled in the report of the meeting and as we 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. f3 


find it also in the report of the General Assembly) 
and the Rev. William Ashmead. Mr. Alexander 
was elected by a large majority on the first ballot. 
Mr. Alexander declined the call and arrangements 
were soon completed for the calling of Rev. John 
Brackenridge, which was consummated by the con- 
gregation at a meeting held the roth of July, 1826, 
Mr. Brackenridge receiving every vote of those pres- 
ent. He was allowed a compensation of $300 for 
expenses incident to moving his household to Balti- 
more and because he had a family, Jaws Deo, they in- 
creased his salary the first year by $200. 

On September 1, 1829, the congregation, after 
much distressing controversy, largely arising out of 
the failure of the church to secure an efficient treas- 
urer, and partly because Dr. Glendy had kept an ac- 
counting with the church on loose scraps of paper, 
which made it almost impossible to determine with 
accuracy the amount of salary due, made a final set- 
tlement with Dr. Glendy, paying to him the amount 
awarded by a board of arbitration, viz: $4,130, cur- 
rent money. 

Presbytery met on the 6th of November, 1829, 
and after hearing the resolutions and applications of 
the Second Presbyterian Congregation for the disso- 
lution of the Pastoral relation subsisting between 
them and the Rev. John Glendy and that the Rev. 
John Breckinridge be declared sole Pastor, cited Dr. 


74 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Glendy to appear before Presbytery at their next 
meeting on the 11th of November to show cause, if 
there be any, why this application of the congrega- 
tion should not be granted. 

In obedience to this citation, Dr. Glendy appeared 
and stated that he considered the pastoral relation 
between him and the second Congregation dissolved 
in fact though not in form on 31st of August when 
the terms of agreement between him and the Com- 
mittee representing the Congregation, were complied 
with; that he had scrupulously abstained from per- 
forming any pastoral services for the congregation 
and that he now acquiesced in the dissolution of the 
pastoral relation by the Presbytery. Whereupon, it 
was on motion Resolved, that the pastoral relation 
heretofore subsisting between Dr. Glendy and the 
Second Presbyterian Church be and the same is here- 
by dissolved and the Rev. John Breckinridge is rec- 
ognized by the Presbytery as the sole pastor of the 
church. 

Dr. Glendy, soon after this removed to Phila- 
delphia, where he passed the remainder of his days, 
dying, after a protracted and painful illness, October 
4, 1832, being 72 years of age. His remains were 
brought to Baltimore and interred by the side of 
those of his wife and child, near the centre of the 
church burying ground, which was called by his 
name. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 75 


The congregation had been apprised of the death 
of their former pastor and of the time at which the 
remains might be expected from Philadelphia. The 
ladies of the congregation tastefully draped the pul- 
pit of the church, where the funeral obsequies were 
to be held, in black. It was the afternoon of the Sab- 
bath when the vessel was expected, and very early an 
immense throng of people (the congregation ad- 
journing for the purpose) gathered on the wharf, 
solemnly and patiently waiting hour after hour until 
the belated vessel in the dusk of the evening made 
fast to her dock. The church, too, was filled with 
those who had heard him so intently in times past, 
gathered to pay the last token of esteem to his mem- 
ory. Even the enclosure outside was a dense mass 
of people. When the funeral cortege approached the 
people respectfully made a way, standing on either 
side with bowed heads, like living walls. 

A Mr. Gibson made an appropriate address from 
the pulpit and a Mr. Williams an “excellent” 
prayer. The long, solemn procession was formed to 
convey the remains to the cemetery. At the side of 
the tomb there were impressive exercises, closing 
with prayer by Rev. Mr. Phelps. 

In the procession, walking the long, dusty way in 
the moonlight to the cemetery might have been seen 
little girls and boys and even women with children in 
their arms, bearing cheerful testimony to their love 
and respect for the memory of the man of God. 


76 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Of his personal appearance we have very good 
authority in one who, knowing him, writes thus: 
“He was singularly neat, even elegant in his dress. 
His hair was thrown into artificial curls and pow- 
dered as white as the snows of Mont Blanc. His 
complexion was pale, his eye intensely blue, his ges- 
ticulation animated and graceful, but somewhat pro- 
fuse. He read the hymns with an eye glass, but the 
Scriptures with spectacles, and in due time dashed off 
into his discourse with a rapidity of utterance which 
would have distanced the King of Pylos or John C. 
Calhoun. 

The sermon was a perfect torrent of Irish elo- 
quence. His voice as sweet as the harp of David, 
but as unlike as possible to the horns that demolished 
the walls of Jericho. The whole impression pro- 
duced by his preaching was at the time perfectly de- 
lightful, though I cannot say it was very enduring. 

Privately, he was fond of saying agreeable things 
and never lost the opportunity of saying so up to the 
full measure of a good conscience. 

He was very regular in attendance upon Presby- 
tery. Once being obliged to be absent he sent a note 
saying he was in a state of “suspended animation.” 

Dr. Glendy was very popular, for he was a natural 
orator of lively imagination, and though he spoke 
rapidly, it was with clearest enunciation, and his 
voice was such that he could be heard great dis- 
tances, even in the open air. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 77 


During his prime, or until age began to enfeeble 
his powers, he filled the old church, large as it was, 
with “the most attentive and respectable congrega- 
tions.” 

The people whom he gathered under his ministry 
were of the active and enterprizing citizens of Bal- 
timore, those who helped to lay the foundations of 
its commercial prosperity, and its various institu- 
tions of benevolence, learning and religion. These 
have all, with the good old Doctor, passed through 
“the valley of the shadow ,” yet leaving behind the 
indelible impress of their sterling virtues and posi- 
tive energies. 

Dr. Glendy’s manner of giving notices from the 
pulpit was productive of many surprises to the con- 
gregation. When a minister for whose ability in 
some manner he had conceived a very poor opinion 
was to preach, he announced, in his presence, that a 
“Dhackwoodsman’”’ was to preach to them. 

The congregation was very much surprised at the 
Doctor’s pointed reference, but still more surprised 
when the “backwoodsman”’ delivered an impressive, 
lucid and solemn discourse. Dr. Glendy, more sur- 
prised than anyone, made his amends by announcing 
that “the same eloquent and greatly beloved brother 
would preach again at night.” 

It was Dr. Glendy’s custom to preach when the op- 
portunity offered to the inmates of the penitentiary. 


78 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


One Sabbath morning in announcing the service of 
the afternoon, he is said to have remarked, that his 
audience in the afternoon would be fit only for the 
penitentiary. The startled congregation did not re- 
cover from the shock for sometime and for days af- 
terward the Doctor was kept busy explaining just 
what he meant. 

One Sabbath, toward the close of his ministry, 
when the pulpit was frequently supplied by other 
ministers, two clergymen were present to preach, the 
one to preach in the morning being considered heret~ 
ical by his brother minister who was to officiate in 
the afternoon. The morning sermon was therefore 
a great trial, so much so that he must needs write 
a note to Dr. Glendy, begging to be excused from 
preaching in the afternoon because the morning ser- 
mon had seriously deranged his mind and incapaci- 
tated him for the duty. 

Dr. Glendy very solemnly announced to his aston- 
ished people that the minister to whom they had ex- 
pected to listen had become mentally deranged and 
thus was physically incapacitated. 

This came to the ears of the brother and upon ex- 
pressing his angry surprise at the announcement 
made, was shown his own note in justification, and 
had nothing to say. 

Dr. Glendy was rather short of stature, and for 
want of a footstool behind the pulpit, when preach- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 79 


ing away from home, took the great pulpit Bible 
down and placing it on the floor, stood upon it and 
preached his sermon. 

Being called to account for this seeming disrespect 
to the Word of God by his brethren of the Presby- 
tery, his defense delivered in an unusually grave and 
solemn manner was that he did not intend to show 
irreverence to the Word of God; he had stood upon 
the Bible from his earliest years, almost from his 
cradle; that it was the basis of all his hopes and that 
thus standing upon the Apostles and Prophets in the 
higher sense, it was not very likely he intended to 
insult them by standing on them in a different sense. 


CHAPTER V. 
THE PASTORATE OF JOHN BRECKINRIDGE, D. D. 


The joint pastorate of Revs. Dr. Glendy and Rev. 
John Breckinridge was entered upon in 1826, Mr. 
Breckinridge having been elected the colleague of 
Dr. Glendy, the roth of July. 

John Breckinridge was the son of Hon. John 
Breckinridge, of Kentucky, United States Attorney- 
General under Thomas Jefferson. He was born at 
Cabell’s Dale, near Lexington, Ky., July 4th, 1797. 
His mother, Mary Cabell, of Virginia, died when 
he was but nine years of age. He prepared for col- 
lege in Kentucky and entered Princeton in the fall 
of 1814, and graduated with high honors in 1818, 
when he was but 21 years of age. 

John Breckinridge was designed for the legal pro- 
fession, but during his course in college he was 
found of Christ and resolved to devote his life to the 
ministry. At that time he was the only professing 
Christian in his family. 

During the years 1820-1, he acted as a tutor in 
Princeton College and at the same time pursued his 
studies in the Theological Seminary. 

He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Pres- 
bytery of New Brunswick, in 1822. During 1823 


JOSEPH T. SMITH, D. D., LL. D. 
FIFTH PASTOR 
1849-1860 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 81 


he was chaplain of the United States House of Rep- 
resentatives. 

He was married January 20, 1823, to Miss Mar- 
garet Miller, daughter of Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., 
of Princeton, N. J. The young couple, in entire con- 
secration had intended to devote their lives to the 
work of Foreign Missions, but circumstances chang- 
ed their anticipations, and in the spring of 1823, Mr. 
Breckinridge accepted a call to the McChord Presby- 
terian Church, of Lexington, Ky. May 22, 1823, 
he became a member of the West Lexington Presby- 
tery and on September 1oth of the same year, was 
ordained and installed the pastor of the congrega- 
tion whose call he had accepted. For three years he 
labored in this pastorate, greatly beloved and re- 
spected by all the people. 

At his installation, in Baltimore, October 13, 
1826, as the colleague of Dr. Glendy, his father-in- 
law, Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., Professor of Eccle- 
siastical History and Church Government in Prince- 
ton, preached the sermon, from the text, “For the 
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 
through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” 
2 Cor., 10; 4. 

The congregation, during Dr. Glendy’s extended 
period of enforced inactivity through advancing 
years, had become somewhat demoralized. There 
were no meetings for prayer and, in consequence the 
tide of its spiritual life was at a very low ebb. 


82 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


This distressing condition was no doubt largely 
brought about, too, by the controversy with Dr. 
Glendy, of which mention has already been made. 

To the Pauline task of correcting these abuses 
which had crept in, and of stirring up their minds by 
way of timely admonition and manifesting a holy 
passion for the truth and the Gospel, Mr. Breckin- 
ridge gave himself body and soul. 

He had not been very long in the city, until in 
company with Dr. Nevins, he established a Bible- 
class, to which, by his genius and enthusiasm he at- 
tracted a large number of young men of both con- 
gregations, who, coming under the sway of the Holy 
Spirit through the Word, became the ready subjects 
of that great revival of the year 1827, the result of 
which was not confined to the Second Church, for 
the whole city was stirred and in our own two 
churches alone more than two hundred confessed 
Christ and were added to the church. 

Of this crucial period in the history of our church 
and of Mr. Breckinridge’s masterly leadership, a 
member of the congregation writes: “The Reverend 
Mr. Breckinridge being now sole pastor of the 
church, devoted himself most assiduously to the 
laborious duties of his station, endeavoring with 
untiring zeal to raise the standard of piety and pro- 
mote the cause of pure religion in the congregation 
and throughout the city, and many an awakened sin- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 83 


ner will have cause throughout eternity to bless the 
day that a kind Providence sent him to labor in our 
vineyard.” 

The question of the practicability of burning coal 
in the centre stove of the church was the consuming 
one during the winter of 1827-28, and as if to show 
the members of the Second Presbyterian Church, in 
these “piping times of peace,” how to appreciate our 
blessings, the committee must needs spread upon 
their minutes the sense of sadness with which they 
viewed the declining condition of the choir. A com- 
mittee, good and strong, was appointed to find the 
cause and remedy the evil, if possible. 

Their report is full of wisdom. Ist. They advise 
the formation of a school or schools in the congre- 
gation for studying the rudiments of sacred music. 
2nd. A musical society to be formed under direction 
of the clerk (leader) to practice the church music 
during the week. They affirm that if something like 
this is not done, either the clerk must lead the con- 
gregation from the desk below or “the present state 
of things become perpetual.”’ 

There is one essential requirement in every church 
choir, insuring at once the peace of the congregation 
and the acceptableness of the praise service to God, 
namely, that some member of the choir, as a true dis- 
ciple of Jesus Christ, shall be a consecrated singer. 


84 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


We hear nothing more from this choir for some 
time and we suppose the spirit of the new pastor was 
felt there as elsewhere throughout the church. 

We are led to wonder upon what Dr. Glendy sat, 
when in the pulpit, or did he sit down at all, for the 
two pastors and John Wilson were appointed a com- 
mittee “‘ to have the pulpit so altered as to admit a 
settee and a cushion to be made in the rear of it.” 

The church now began to assume a tone and a 
power entirely different from that which character- 
ized it when Mr. Breckinridge came. From Novem- 
ber, 1826, to May, 1828, one hundred and three 
souls had been placed upon the church rolls and 
every one of the activities of the church presented a 
healthy and vigorous aspect. The Sabbath school, 
male and female, now proposed a branch school in 
Market Space, and at a meeting of the joint commit- 
tees of the two schools this mission work was at- 
tempted, a superintendent and two teachers were 
taken from the Home School and provisions made 
for procuring the scholars and a place of meeting. 
This was in December, 1827. In 1828, the consti- 
tution was revised, conferring upon the superintend- 
ents and teachers of the schools the authority to elect 
teachers and to make by-laws for regulation of their 
own proceedings. 

Teachers, then as now, were the crying need, and 
though a committee searched for them they met with 


oS ay 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 85 


but little success. By suggestion of Dr. John Breck- 
inridge, the system of rewards was introduced to en- 
courage attendance, etc. 

After the dissolution of the pastoral relation sub- 
sisting between Dr. Glendy and the congregation, 
Mr. Breckinridge was declared to be full pastor, Au- 
gust 31st, 1829. 

Three years later the incessant and arduous labors 
began to tell upon the young minister. The rupture 
of a blood vessel led the congregation for a time to 
apprehend fatal conséquences. He at length, how- 
ever, recovered, but his physician advised a situation 
in which he would have more exercise and less men- 
tal exertion. 

Nothing but a peremptory sense of duty, such as 
the foregoing advice laid upon him, could have 
tempted him to leave a people to whom he had 
become so endeared. One member wrote, when the 
mews of the possible dissolution of the pastoral 
relation was imparted, “Never was a congregation 
more deeply affected, for never was a congregation 
more ardently attached, and the idea of parting with 
their beloved pastor was like rending asunder the 
most sacred tie on earth.” 

On the 26th of June, 1831, Mr. Breckinridge offi- 
cially communicated to the congregation, the offer 
which had been tendered to him of Corresponding 
Secretary to the Assembly’s Board of Education, 


86 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


and painful as it was, upon reference of the whole 
matter to Presbytery, with Mr. Breckinridge’s reas- 
ons for going from the Second Church and the reas- 
ons of representatives of our church arguing that he 
should stay, the pastoral relation was dissolved and 
the congregation was, for the first time, without a 
pastor, sorrowing as they viewed this new situation, 
but not as one of the elders remarked, “‘like the 
elders at Ephesus, sorrowing most of all that they 
should see his face no more.” The congregation was 
permitted on many subsequent occasions “to see his 
face restored to health and to hear his voice pro- 
claiming to us the unsearchable riches of Christ.’ 
Mr. Breckinridge removed to Philadelphia and en- 
tered upon his labors. The cause of education was 
at a very low ebb. So wisely and with such zeal 
and eloquence did he labor and so conspicuously did 
God bless his efforts, that in the first year he in- 
creased the number of beneficiaries under the Board 
from about sixty to over six hundred, raising at the 
same time the amount of contributions from about 
$10 to over $40,000, and placing the Board on a 
footing of permanent prosperity. 

In the year 1835, he was elected to the chair of 


Pastoral Theology in Princeton Seminary, by the 
General Assembly. He accepted the appointment, 


after due consideration, and immediately set out as 
an agent of the institution to solicit funds for its 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 87 


support throughout the church, in which he was 
more than ordinarily successful. 

He was inaugurated a Professor of the Seminary 
at a meeting of the Board of Directors, May 5th, 
1836. His services to the Seminary were attended 
with evident success. 

In 1838, the General Assembly for the second time 
invited him to become the Financial Agent of the 
Board of Foreign Missions, which had been formed 
but two years before. It is thought that the death of 
his wife, which occurred June 16, 1838, materially 
helped him to decide to leave Princeton upon this 
second call. 

In his capacity as the agent of the Foreign Mis- 
sion Board, he visited every part of the church, sow- 
ing the seed of a foreign missionary enthusiasm — 
throughout the church which gave the Foreign 
Board for many years a much needed impetus and 
popularity. Nor has this enthusiasm ever waned. 

He was called in 1839 to the pastorate of the Ist 
Presbyterian Church of New Orleans. Though he 
declined the call, he preached for the congregation 
as supply during the following winter. 

In 1840, he came North again, and was married 
to Miss Mary A. Babcock, of Stonington, Conn. 
Retiring to New Orleans he again supplied the pulpit 
of the 1st Church during the two winters of 1840 
and 1841. 


&& ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


His health breaking down, he left New Orleans 
in May, 1841, and was just able to reach his birth- 
place, Cabell’s Dale, Ky. 

There amid the scenes of his childhood, and sur- 
rounded by every comfort which the loving and 
thoughtful ministries of his wife could devise, he 
gradually succumbed to the disease, bronchial con- 
sumption, and passed away August 4th, 1841. He 
was a great man, but he was better; he was a good 
man, and as the sequel of such a combination, was 
eminently useful. 

Pleasing in his manners, in all his intercourse he 
was the perfect gentleman. His pulpit work was pe- 
culiarly delightful and interesting, so that he soon 
became in Baltimore its most acceptable and popu- 
lar preacher. 

The Presbyterian Church has seldom had in her 
ministry a man more consecrated to her service asi 
John Breckinridge. 

With the boundless ardor of his youth and a burn- 
ing zeal and energy, he came to Baltimore, than 
whom no man was more sorely needed. 

There was life, sprightliness, point in his every 
public utterance. To every cause which enlisted his 
sympathies he gave the same zeal. The Bible, tract, 
Sabbath school, temperance, mission and coloniza- 
tion schemes, received of his very best. Though 
having many calls from other cities, and having had 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 89 


success in all his labors elsewhere, he looked upon his 
work in Baltimore as his greatest, and God blessed 
him in the complete rehabilitation of the congrega- 
tion and its revitalizing; and not only so, but there 
was diffused throughout all the evangelical churches 
of the city, a spiritual power they had not known 
before. 

As an agent for the collection of funds for the 
legitimate and sacred purposes of the Kingdom, he 
had no equal. Everywhere he was spoken of and 
everywhere the people crowded to hear him. 

The late James W. Alexander, D. D., an inti- 
mate friend, thus speaks of him: “The writer of 
these lines knew him longer and better than any man 
living ; and if we ever knew a man of whom we could 
say, his faults were few and his virtues transcendent, 
this was one.” 

He was endowed by nature with a degree of in- 
trepidity of character, perhaps more properly speak- 
ing, of hardihood of spirit, which made him all his 
days insensible to fear, and we suppose that at any 
moment during his life, this quality alone would 
have enabled him to die with perfect composure. 

At one time being with persons, whom he sup- 
posed to be in sympathy with him and finding them, 
as he thought, disposed to injure another on his ac- 
count, he interposed, “Gentlemen, I beg you to for- 
bear. I feel no ill-will toward those persons and have 


go ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


no wrongs to be revenged. I am a Kentuckian, in- 
deed, but I am a Christian, too.’”’ He was soon unde- 
ceived and discovered that he himself was the sub- 
ject of their remarks, and like a flash he rejoined, 
“Gentlemen, I beg you to beware. It is true ] ama 
Christian, but you must remember that I am also a 
Kentuckian.” 


At another time when he had arisen to address an 
immense colonization meeting in New York city, 


there was great excitement and confusion in the au- 
dience and considerable hissing. Mr. Breckinridge 
straightening himself, looked quietly around, his 
cheeks flushed with suppressed feeling, and said, 
with a smile, “I am not to be put down by hisses or 
threats; I was cradled where the Indian’s war 
whoop yet mingled with the infant’s lullaby and I 
was trained by a mother whose earliest lessons 
taught me, next to the fear of God, never to be afraid 
of anybody. I was born a free man and by the 
grace of God I mean to die a free man.” 

The audience was hushed to silence for a moment 
and then broke out in tumultuous applause. 

Dr. Breckinridge had, besides, in the highest de- 
gree possible, that sense of propriety, and that per- 
ception of what is becoming, which constitute the 
highest charm of the behavior of a gentleman, in all 
circumstances. 

This ruling characteristic was so strong to the 
very last, that some hours before his departure, he 


a 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. gti 


put his thin hand in ours and with a voice nearly 
inaudible, but perfectly steady, said: “Do not permit 
me in moments like these to do anything unbecom- 
ing.” To say that such a man meets the King of 
Terrors with all the dignity that could illustrate the 
names of heroes or philosophers, is to say nothing. 
And yet there was no insensibility to the solemnity 
of the occasion or to the overwhelming importance 
of the event. For the same morning when asked 
about his spiritual consolation he replied, “I have no 
fear, but I have not that rapture of which many have 
spoken. I never had much rapture in religion. My 
views of the depth of sin and the awfulness of 
eternity have been such.” 

The principal seat of the disease was in the throat 
and for some months before death that eloquent 
voice which had filled so many hearts and thrilled so 
many spirits with all high and tender emotions, was 
hushed to the lowest whisper. 

At the same time his frame was reduced to the last 
degree of emaciation (though he daily rose and 
dressed himself to the last), and his nervous and 
vital energy so prostrated, that he could not endure 
the least excitement, physical or mental. 

While these circumstances render his great and 
enduring self-possession and composure the more re- 
markable, they explain also how it was that the last 
months of his life, were essentially months of soli- 


92 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


tude and silence. It was a continued season for Di- 
vine meditation, inward prayer and secret commu- 
nion with God. 

On one occasion, the day perhaps before his death, 
he called his only son, a youth of thirteen years, to 
his bedside and with the tenderest admonitions and 
the most fervent blessings, besought him to remem- 
ber, that he had consecrated him from the womb to 
the service of God, as a minister of His Son Jesus 
Christ ; and that unless his whole heart and soul were 
in this great work, it would be an abomination in the 
sight of God, if he would intrude into it. 

An hour before his death he became apparently, 
entirely free from pain and his poor, frail body sank 
into a posture of rest and quiet. He was as he had 
always been in the full exercise of all his senses and 
faculties, and calling his two brothers, Revs. Robert 
J. and Wm. L., to his side, taking each by the hand 
he said: “I am dying; remain with me.” After a few 
moments he said, “Nothing is impossible with God.” 
And a little later, “God is with me.’ These were his 
last words, and so he fell asleep. 

At the time of his death he was Pastor-elect of the 
Presbyterian Church of New Orleans and President- 
elect of Oglethorpe University of Georgia. 

One of his characteristic utterances spoken but a 
short time before death, was, “I am a poor sinner 
who has worked hard and had constantly before my 
mind one great object, the conversion of the world.” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 93 


His people of the Second Church mourned for him 
as for their father, for he had come into their lives 
like a burst of sunshine from skies overcast with 
storm-swept clouds. Even the little children counted 
upon his coming as they would anticipate a jubilee. 
And what better can be said of any man, than that 
the little children love him and rejoice in his pres- 
sence. 

Dr. John Breckinridge left three children, who 
with their father had mourned the death of their 
mother but three years before. 

There was Margaret, devoting herself to the sick 
and wounded during the war, which resulted in her 
death, and Polly, who married Col. P. B. Porter, of 
Black Rock, N. Y., who commanded for a season at 
Fort McHenry. He afterwards fell mortally wound- 
ed at the battle of Cold Harbor. And Samuel M., 
a judge in St. Louis, one of the commissioners in 
that notable conference between the Northern and 
Southern Presbyterian churches in Baltimore in 
1873, representing the Northern church. 


CHAPTERLME 
THE CALL OF ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, D. D. 


It was some eighteen months after the resignation 
and departure of John Breckinridge before the con- 
gregation again enjoyed the regular administration 
of the ordinances under the leadership of their own 
pastor. But the congregation had been left in a con- 
dition of spiritual zeal and unity which safely 
bridged the gap and even made possible some 
decided gains in progressive church work, the most 
noteworthy of which was the rapid growth of a 
branch or mission Sabbath school on Fell’s Point, 
almost at the foot of Bond street. This school 
became a branch school under the care of the Second 
Presbyterian Church Sabbath School Society in Feb- 
ruary, 1830. It became later the nucleus of the pres- 
ent Broadway Presbyterian Church. 

This happy condition of the congregation is grate- 
fully remembered in a letter addressed to the mem- 
bers when they were convened for the purpose of 
electing a pastor June 21, 1832, from which we make 
this excerpt: ‘When we consider the length of time 
our pulpit has been vacant, the regular supplies we 
have had and the fidelity with which we have adhered 
together as a flock, we feel that we would be ungrate- 
ful were we to withhold our warmest expressions of 
thankfulness to the Great Head of the church, for the 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 95 


manifestation of His fatherly goodness to us in our 
widowed state. The apprehensions of friends and 
the predictions of foes, that we would soon be scat- 
tered without a head have equally proved groundless, 
and from the present harmony and good feeling 
which pervades our congregation we have reason to 
hope, if we make a wise choice of a pastor, that we 
- will soon see the cause of pure and undefiled religion 
flourish once more amongst us.” Then follows this 
suggestion, rooted in the love of Christ and certain 
to bear its fruit of the Holy Spirit: “We would 
indulge a hope that no discussion will be had respect- 
ing the relative merits of the different candidates. 
They have all labored honestly for our edification, 
they have left their reputation, which is a minister’s 
all, in our hands, and it would be unkind, unjust, 
unchristian to indulge in any remarks to the injury 
of any one of them.” They recommended the whole 
list of eighteen ministers who had preached before 
the congregation. 

Rey. Dr. William Nevins, pastor of the First 
Church, moderated the meeting. The method pur- 
sued was to call out the number of the pew, when 
the occupant would respond, designating his choice. 
Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge was chosen by a large 
majority on the first ballot. The call was made 
unanimous. 


So 


96 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


It need be no secret that shortly after the depart- 
ure of Dr. John Breckinridge the session made over- 
tures to another brother, Rev. William L., and twice 
besought him to listen to their wooing, but he felt it 
to be his duty to accept the call to the Chair of Lan- 
guages in Centre College, Ky. However,the Breck- 
inridge family had yet another son, a likely “David,” 
who was sent for, though he had but scarcely entered 
upon his studies at the seminary, and upon his head 
the “anointing oil” descended. 

Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, the third pastor of 
our church, was born just two years before the for- 
mation of our congregation, on March 8, 1800, in 
Cabell’s Dale, Ky. He graduated from Union Col- 
lege, New York, in 1819 and began at once to study 
for the bar. He was married the 8th of March, 
1823, to Miss Sophonisba Preston, of Abingdon, 
Va., sister of Col. W. C. and John Preston, of South 
Carolina and Georgia. He was admitted to the bar 
in Lexington in 1824. While practising law he also 
contributed to the press and served in the legislature 
oi Kentucky three successive terms, where he proved 
to be one of its ablest members. In 1828 he became 
a member of the McChord Presbyterian Church, of 
which his brother had been pastor but a few years 
before, just prior to his coming to Baltimore. 
There can be no doubt that we owe the Christian 
character of our third pastor largely if not entirely 


GEORGE P. HAYS, D. D. 
SIXTH PASTOR 
1861-1868 


to the instrumentality of his brother John, our sec- 
ond pastor. 

Soon after uniting with the church he was elected 
am elder and im 1831, that year which begam the tre- 
mendous struggle in the Presbyteriam Church, which 
resulted in the division of 1838, Mr. Breckmridge 
was elected a delegate to the General Assembly, to 
meet in Philadelphia. Durimg the discussion of the 
case of Rev. Albert Barnes a question of soundness 
im the faith, which had proved very perplexing and 
by many was thought to endanger the peace of the 
church, if mot her very life the Assembly, after 
prayer and consideration, was m grave doubt as to 
what course to pursue. Mr. Breckimridge, just come 
from a sick bed, rose and began to address the house. 
He had spoken but 2 few words when, with rapt 
attention the members listened. As he proceeded 
with his plea, tears of hopefulness for their beloved 
church began to flow down the cheeks of many of the 
fathers who had had the gravest fears of the out- 
come of the trial His speech was am eloquent, 
pathetic plea for the peace of Zion and mapped out 
the course afterward followed by the assembly. It 
stamped Mr. Breckmridge as a ready speaker of 
marked abilities. 

He followed im the footsteps of his brother Johm 
im favoring the scheme for the colonization of the 


“Dlacks” and agamst slavery. At a great meeting 


98 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


of the Colonization Society held in Frankfort, Ky., 
January 6, 1831, he made an address, which stands 
today one of the ablest defenses of anti-slavery ever 
published. He was at the same time an ardent 
advocate of temperance and devoted to every Chris- 
tian work, to which he gave his whole time, having 
retired from public life. 

He was urged by his many friends to enter the 
ministry, his own conception of duty also pleading 
the Master’s cause, but it was not until in a great out- 
door meeting in the woods on his own farm that the 
wrestlings with the Holy Spirit ceased and, every 
barrier swept away, he gave himself unreservedly to 
the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In the spring of 1832 he applied to the Presbytery 
of West Lexington to be taken under their care as a 
licentiate and was by them licensed to preach the 
Gospel April 5, 1832. He at once removed to 
Princeton that he might attend the theological lec- 
tures at the Seminary. He had been but a few 
months in attendance upon the Semonary, when the 
Master’s hand was laid upon him again, as when 
that second call came to Saul of Tarsus, for definite 
service, and the pulpit of the Second Presbyterian 
Church of Baltimore invited him, while at the same 
time the mantle of his brother as its faithful former 
occupant slipped about his shoulders. It was stipu- 
lated in a letter answering the call, that an accept- 
ance was not to take effect until the Fall. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 99 


During the months of July, August and Septem- 
ber, the Session held no meetings owing to the fact 
that most of the members were out of the city to 
escape the ravages of cholera, which decimating dis- 
ease the Session clerk calls “that awful scourge of 
God upon a wicked (he might have added ‘filthy’) 
world.” 

Mr. Breckinridge preached his first sermon in the 
Second Church on the first Sabbath of November, 
1832, and was ordained and installed pastor by the 
Presbytery of Baltimore on the evening of the 26th 
following. The Rev. William Nevins presided and 
offered the prayer of ordination. His brother, Rev. 
John Breckinridge, preached the sermon from the 
text: “That thou mayest know how thou oughtest 
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the 
church of the living God, the pillar and ground of 
the truth.” 1 Tim. 3rd chap. and 15th v. The charge 
to the pastor was delivered by the Rev. George Mus- 
grave and the charge to the people by the Rev. Wil- 
liam Nevins. 

Extract from “ Private Journal’ R. J. B. 

“On the 26th day of November, 1832, I was or- 
dained to the work of the ministry, and instalied as 
the Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, of 
Baltimore, by the Baltimore Presbytery. From the 
time of my license I have labored as I could for 
Christ ; but those labors related peculiarly to no one 


100 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


but myself, and were therefore, not worthy to be 
recorded. Now it is otherwise. My station makes 
my labors of more consequence, and the date at 
which I commence recording them is the same as my 
taking charge of the church of which I am pastor, 
that is, the second day of Nov, 1832. Oh! that I 
may be owned and blessed of the Lord Jesus.” 

Sabbath, November 4, (morning )—Preached in 
Second Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, from 119th 
Psalm and 185th verse: ‘Salvation is far from the 
wicked.” 

(Evening). Preached to the people of the Second 
Church from Rev. 22: 17: “Whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely.” 

Thursday, 22d to Monday, 26th; had protracted 
services in my congregation, connected with my ordi- 
nation and installation, which took place the evening 
of the 26th. My brother, John Breckinridge, and 
the Rev. Samuel Winchester and the Rev. Messrs. 
Musgrave, Phelps, Hamner, and Nevins and 
Stephen Williams, a licentiate, aided at this meeting. 
‘The services were a prayer meeting daily at 9 A. M.; 
sermon daily at 11 A. M.; exhortations daily at half 
three P. M., and a sermon daily at 7 P. M. Profes- 
sors of religion met separately, twice, viz., Saturday 
afternoon and Monday afternoon. 

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was admin- 
istered on Sabbath afternoon. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. IOI 


The Sacrament of Baptism was administered to 
two adults on Sabbath and to my infant child on 
Monday morning, all by my brother John. I have 
been sick during most of the time. I read before - 
Presbytery a trial sermon on Monday, the 22d from 
Numbers 16: 21: “But as truly as I live, all the 
earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” I 
also spoke to the people on Monday afternoon, the 
26th, by way of exhortation from II Cor. 5: 11-15: 
“Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” 
This protracted meeting seems to have been blessed 
of God to the stirring up of the hearts of this people 
and the awakening of a number of sinners. Oh! for 
His truth to shine into my soul, and for His power 
to strengthen my weak hands.” 

There follows in this diary a story of “labors 
abundant” out of which we place before you this rel- 
evant portion; 

“16 (Sabbath morning).---Preached in my church 
from Hebrews 12: 11: “Now no chastening for the 
present seemeth to be joyous, etc.” A very large and 
attentive congregation. After service, Stephen Wil- 
liams, a licentiate of our Presbytery and preacher in 
the Bethel Chapel at the Point, spoke to the people. 
before taking up a collection in aid of that cause. 
The attendance at the church on Sabbath morning is 
large, but at night it is small, and at my meetings 
through the week, (lectures included), still thinner. 


102 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


I took occasion this morning to say to the people, 
that although I was willing to admit that the reason 
why people did not attend on the ordinances of relig- 
ion might be rather the fault of their preacher’s 
power to interest them, than of their want of interest 
in the subject, yet even in this case I thought a man 
might well doubt whether God had called him to a 
people whom he could not interest, and whether he 
could honestly eat their bread, if they hindered him 
from earning it; and, on the whole, that, for my own 
part, I had settled the question after much consider- 
ation, that my duty was to preach the Gospel to 
people and not to empty seats, and, to that end, I was 
ready to flee from city to city, till I could find those 
who would hear my report. The issue is with God.” 

“Tn one short month see how God wrought upon 
the people toward a change of heart in respect to the 
ordinances of His house. January 20th, 1833, lect- 
ured in my Session room upon Ephesians i: 13-14; 
‘In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the 
Word of Truth, etc.” Room full and the people at- 
tentive and solemn. The attendance on my labors 
has been increasing from the time I came here, es- 
pecially on my services through the week; and the 
people seem gladly to hear the word, and are often 
deeply moved, so that many weep. God enables me 
to speak with great plainness to them. My constant 
prayer having been from the first, that I might be 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 103 


enabled to preach Christ, simply, clearly, plainly and 
with unction from Him. Oh! that the Word preach- 
ed may, through His spirit, be made powerful to sal- 
vation in them that hear.” 

The strong yet wise and loving hand of this excep- 
tional man was soon felt throughout the congrega- 
tion, while with tireless energy night after night he 
proclaimed the love of God until there was “a sound 
of going in the tops of the mulberry trees,” and the 
congregation moved forward as did the army of 
David against the Philistines, assured that the Lord 
was leading them against all the enemies of His 
church. That year the Lord added unto the church, 
by his Holy Spirit’s reviving, ninety-three souls upon 
the profession of their faith in Jesus Christ. 

Of this wonderful year of blessing good old 
George Carson, the clerk of session, writes, spread- 
ing upon the minute book with a pen dipped in the 
love of God for the souls of men, his “Praise the 
Lord for His goodness.” Let me present one ex- 
cerpt: “We bless our God for the manifestations of 
His presence in our late meetings. Solemnity and 
much prayer is evident, creating the hope that He 
designs a blessing for us as a church, although so 
undeserving and unworthy we be. Oh, that we 
may be enabled to wrestle in faith, laying low at the 
foot of the cross, for still further displays of His 
mercy and love to us as a people, to the glory of our 


104 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Heavenly Father, and to His only and well beloved 
son Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to the 
Holy Ghost the applier and sanctifier of all mercies, 
Amen.” 

With what a rush of passionate feeling he chroni- 
cles the result of this season of prayer and effort: 
“We bless and adore a covenant keeping God of love 
for the rich manifestations of His faithfulness and 
mercy. In time of need He sent two of His devoted 
servants, the Rev. Dr. Nelson and the Rev. Mr. 
Gallaher, to assist our now exhausted pastor, to 
direct and instruct a throng of awakened and inquir- 
ing sinners. It pleased the Lord to greatly bless 
their untiring labors amongst us to the calling out 
from the ranks of the enemy seventy-six immortal 
souls who have joined the army of the living God, 
covenanting to serve Him in time and eternity. We 
have seen a people made willing, we have felt it as a 
day of God’s power. Oh, for grace to strengthen 
us to walk firm and aright under the weight of such 
high privileges. Amen.” 

The latter part of February Mr. Breckinridge was 
laid aside from active work by sickness, through 
which he was brought to the very borders of the 
grave. This sickness good George Carson speaks of 
as a “thorn in the flesh for us, the recipients of such 
high privileges, to preserve us from being exalted 
above measure. Our beloved pastor must suffer 


tC SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 105 


that we might retain a proper sense of our depend- 
ence upon the source from which our help must 
come.” Weekly meetings for prayer from house to 
house were the source of very great blessing to the 
congregation and during the sickness of the pastor 
fervent petitions ascended from anxious hearts gath- 
ered in these places of prayer. The fragrance of 
“this ointment poured forth” filled the House of 
God, and an increasingly happy people gathered 
from Sabbath to Sabbath to hear the Word of God. 
Dissension and strife were unknown and it was 
recorded of them “that the Lord withered every 
apparent root of bitterness e’er it has growth to 
mar the friendly, peaceful relations that exist 
between us.” 

There had been for some time what was called 
“social meetings” held in the Session room, where 
those inclined came together for prayer and the fel- 
lowship of the Gospel. These meetings had no doubt 
been begun under Dr. John Breckinridge, for they 
are spoken of as being “kept alive” by the members 
of the congregation during the time the pulpit was 
vacant. In the same connection reference is made 
to the Friday evening lecture, which no doubt would 
be delivered by the minister supplying the pulpit. 
Ever since that time this social meeting for prayer, 
though passing through some changes, has been a 
blessed source of strength to the church. Mr. Breck- 


106 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


inridge baptized that same year twenty-seven adults, 
fifteen of whom were “colored,” the “colored’’ people 
being allowed to worship with the congregation by 
occupying seats in the gallery. 

At the same time the congregation raised $650 for 
missionary purposes and $2,000 for educational pur- 
poses, besides paying in full their regular obliga- 
tions. There was upon the roll of the church on 
April 23, 1834, three hundred and sixty-eight mem- 
bers, the high water mark up to that time. 

On the oth of January, 1833, the congregation 
having been regularly called together, decided, upon 
the recommendation of the Session, to elect a Board 
of Deacons. Dr. Breckinridge set forth in a clear 
manner the principles of the Presbyterian Church © 
and from Scripture showed the correctness of the 
views expressed in those Standards, “upon the dis- 
tinctness of the offices of elder and deacon.” The 
congregation then, by ballot, elected the first Board 
of Deacons of the Second Presbyterian Church, 
namely: Alexander Kerr, Richard J. Cross, J. 
Harman Brown, James Spillman, A. George, Jr. and 
James Wilkenson. 

“On Sabbath evening, January 20, 1833, at the 
close of the sermon, in the presence of the congrega- 
tion, the Session met and having constituted with 
prayer, they set apart these men elected by prayer 
and the laying on of hands, to the office of Deacon.” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 107 


1833.---He organized the Sixth Presbyterian 
Church, a congregation of colored people. This 
church was never very strong and was dissolved by 
act of Presbytery in 1842. 

At a*meeting of Session, June 4, 1833, it was 
unanimously resolved that “a collection be taken up 
hereafter every Sabbath morning, the proceeds to be 
applied as follows: On the first Sabbath in the 
month and on the fifth, when it occurs, to the con- 
tingent expenses of the church. On the second Sab- 
bath in the month, to the deacons’ fund for the poor ; 
on the third Sabbath in the month, for the use of 
our Sunday-schools; on the fourth Sabbath in the 
month, for the aid of the Female Tract Society of 
our church.” 

The first annual report of this Society, made July 
I, 1834, shows that its organization must have been 
June 17, 1833, or about the time the above contribu- 
tion was set apart for their benefit. That was a very 
encouraging report, for it showed the distribution 
during the year of 6,500 tracts and 30 Bibles. The 
members were also instrumental “in bringing many 
scholars into the Sabbath school and many adults 
under the means of grace by a regular attendance on 
the public worship of God on the Sabbath, who never 
before were in the habit of entering His sanctuary, 
some heretofore indifferent have expressed great 
concern for the state of their souls and two hopeful 


108 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


cases of conversion are reported.” So thoroughly 
awakened had the congregation become that every 
part of the church’s activities invited the best atten- 
tion of the members, and of course the praise service 
did not escape, nor should it. Contrary, however, 
to the previous order of complaint, the shaft of crit- 
icism is directed against the congregation and not 
against the choir. Backwardness in joining, in what 
should be a delightful service, was the crying sin and 
Session took measures to effectually remedy the evil. 

Mr. Breckinridge early in his Christian life held 
advanced ground upon temperance and kindred 
moral questions and being a man of strong convic- 
tions, was like a soldier on the firing line, always on 
the alert to press the charge of battle against this 
enemy of purity and righteousness. He was not 
slow to discover that among the membership of the 
Second Church were not only some who partook of, 
but also some who were engaged in the manufacture 
of intoxicating liquors. The attitude of Mr. Breck- 
inridge toward this evil was well known before he 
became the pastor of the church, yet when in his 
usually fearless manner he preached a sermon 
entitled, “The Immorality of the Traffic, Manufac- 
ture and Use of Ardent Spirits as a Drink, and the 
Duty of Christians with Reference to the Temper- 
ance Cause,” he was bitterly arraigned thereafter by 
‘a prominent member who was engaged in the manu- 


- e 
tom 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 109g 


facture of liquor. Instead of hushing the voice 
which had so angered him, this enraged member 
only served a righteous God in welding together the 
temperance sentiment of the congregation, now at 
white heat, and ready for the hammer of oppor- 
tunity. This opportunity was not long in coming. 
The intrepid pastor called a special meeting of the 
contributors and communicants of the congregation 
for the following Tuesday, the toth of June, 1834. 
Gen. William McDonald was called into the chair 
and a letter from the pastor was read, setting forth in 
vigorous and candid, yet kindly language, the reasons 
for calling the meeting. He told them of his temper- 
ance sentiments, of his convictions of duty in press- 
ing the matter upon their attention, of the attempted 
subversion of the pulpit and intimidation of the pas- 
tor at the close of the last Sabbath’s sermon by one 
of the members of the church, and then called upon 
them to know whether it was the mind of the con- 
gregation that the use or manufacture or sale of in- 
toxicating liquors was innocent or not, and that if he 
was to be silent in the pulpit on this question he must 
separate from them. 

Without hesitation and without one dissenting 
vote the congregation of the Second Presbyterian 
Church placed itself thus early in the contest with 
intemperance among its most implacable foes, draft- 
ing and agreeing upon the following resolutions: 


IIo ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


“Resolved, That the congregation approve of the 
principles and views of their pastor in sustaining the 
cause of temperance, and feel that it is not only the 
right, but the solemn duty of every preacher of the 
Gospel in discussing both doctrines and morals, to 
follow the dictates of conscience in interpretating the 
Word of God. Resolved, That we will co-operate 
with him and the friends of temperance in promoting 
this cause with the hope that the time is not distant 
when the traffic in and use of ardent spirits as a 
drink will be banished from this community and 
from the world.” 

Extensive improvements were completed this year 
in the church building at a cost of over $3,000. 
Two towers were built on the outside of the church 
to accommodate the stairs leading to the gallery and 
the additional space thus provided on the ground 
floor was filled with pews. The doors upon the east 
and west sides of the church were made into win- 
dows and the wood work of church and pews given 
a thorough overhauling. Gas was introduced for 
the first time at a cost, after arbitration, of $430 
and the old sperm oil lamps were relegated to the 
junk shop, and we might incidentally remark, the 
congregation began to have those series of troubles 
with the gas bills which have been the “bone of con- 
tention’? between producer and consumer ever since. 
This year also saw the “passing” of the old pulpit, 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. IIt 


with its sounding board, and the erection in its place 
of a platform and desk. 

A Sinking Fund was also created in 1834, to pro- 
vide means for the liquidation of the debts resting 
upon the church. This Sinking Fund had a varied 
history, but on the whole did good service. It was 
only one of several plans operated for the same pur- 
pose, another of which was the issuing of shares of 
stock in the Second Presbyterian Corporation paying 
a certain dividend. This plan was to obviate the 
necessity of borrowing money from banks or other 
institutions. One such share of stock is before me 
as I write. It is headed, ‘Five per cent stock of the 
Second Presbyterian Church.” It is for $1,000 and 
certifies that the “corporation of the Second Presby- 
terian Church” is indebted to Gen. William Mc- 
Donald in that sum. 

This stock was surrendered, marked “cancelled” 
by his son, the executor of the estate of General Mc- 
Donald, according to the terms of his father’s will. 

The rule restricting the sale of lots in the grave- 
yard to pew owners or renters was partially re- 
scinded so that others might be able to secure them 
and thus provide a further source of revenue to the 
church. 

November 27, 1834, Mr. Breckinridge laid before 
the Session and congregation the question of his ac- 
cepting the appointment of the General Assembly as 


II2 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


their delegate to attend the congregational union of 
England and Wales. Though the congregation ac- 
quiesced in the attendance of their pastor, it was 
with reluctance, in view of the great needs of the 
church for his presence. He was not able to go, 
however, until the year 1836. 

It would appear as if there were some members of 
the church conscientiously of the opinion that the 
Lord’s Supper should be observed at a table, for up 
to this year it had been the custom to spread such a 
table for those desiring it in the middle aisle. Its 
discontinuance led to complaints which were at once 
silenced by Mr. Breckinridge ordering the tables to 
be used again. 

At a meeting of the congregation held January 5, 
1835, it was agreed that the congregation should 
take the necessary steps to build a parsonage and 
that in the meantime the pastor’s salary should be 
raised to $2,000 per annum and the rent of his house. 
A missionary for the Sunday-school was also em- 
ployed who was to give his whole time to building 
up the school through visiting the old and seeking 
out new scholars. 

A new tin roof was put upon the church at a cost 
of over $700. This sum was entirely raised by sub- 
scription after a morning service by handing cards 
to the members on which to place the amount they 
desired to pledge. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
18038-1851 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Ii3 


In September, 1835, the commissioners of the 
American Board of Foreign Missions held their 
meetings in our church and owing to the sickness of 
Rey. Dr. Nevins, the only resident member of the 
board, Mr. Breckinridge was asked to act with the 
committee of arrangements in perfecting the plans 
for their meeting. 

This year also Mr. Breckinridge was the delegate 
of Baltimore Presbytery to the General Assembly, 
where but a few years before he had electrified the 
assembly in his maiden speech as an elder-delegate 
from Kentucky. 

After a sacrament Sabbath and special services 
held incident to his departure, Mr. Breckinridge left 
Baltimore in March, 1836, to take passage for Eur- 
ope, as he says, “scarcely realizing that at last he had 
left Baltimore behind and was fairly on the way.” 

Mr. Breckinridge, after being in Europe for more 
than a year, where he traveled very extensively, upon 
his return immediately proceeded to take his place in 
the thick of a contest which had been gathering ever 
since he was first a delegate to the General Assembly. 
His own Presbytery perceiving in him the champion 
to defend her opinions, chose him as her delegate to 
the assembly. Before the male members of his con- 
gregation, called together by the Session for the pur- 
pose, he laid the question, “Adhere to the old Stand- 
ards or follow the new?’ With unanimity and 


114 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


heartiness they followed their pastor in his deter- 
mined fidelity to “the Standards of the Presbyterian 
Church in the spirit and intent thereof.” 

The Presbyterian Church was broken in two. 
This was the end of a strife which had hindered the 
church in her progress for years. Before the ad- 
journment of this General Assembly a Standing 
Committee on Missions was appointed to act 
throughout the year. This committee was the basis 
of our present Boards of Missions. And so to hap- 
pier work the various ministers returned from the 
scene of battle. 


CHAPTER VII. 
A PERIOD OF COLONIZATION. 


The intrepid leader of the Second Church, like a 
man refreshed after labor, entered with zeal upon his 
various plans for the extension of the Master’s king- 
dom. The whole Presbytery like a captive set free 
“rejoiced as a strong man to run a race.” 

There had been for some little time a mission 
school under the independent care of Mr. Cary, for 
the religious education of colored children. This 
school was taken under the care of Session July 4, 
1837, and given its share of support from the 
monthly collections taken up for Sabbath school pur- 
poses. It might be supposed by anyone reading the 
minute books of our church officers that the entire 
congregation was composed of men. While “the 
names upon a sign’”’ may lead us to presuppose that 
there are no other members of the firm, experience 
teaches that there is such a “power behind the 
throne,” as a “silent partner.” Once in a while the 
curtain lifts and the busy women of the congrega- 
tion are disclosed, without whose effective agency we 
venture to say the Second Presbyterian Church 
would have found many of her best laid plans “gang 
aft aglie.” 


116 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


While man may forget to record, “this that she 
hath done,” is not forgotten of the Master, whose 
praise it is better to have than the laudations of 
princes. As we intimate in the foregoing, there was 
a little lifting of the curtain, when upon the minute 
book of the committee we find the following item: 
“The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated 
on Sabbath the 8th in this church, on which occasion 
we had the pleasure of having the Rev. Henry R. 
Wilson, present with us, who is about to embark for 
India, as a missionary on behalf of the Ladies’ 
Society of this church, who took part in the solemn 
services of the day, preached in the evening and took 
an affectionate farewell.” 

This is but one evidence of the existence in the 
hearts of the members of a sincere desire for the ex- 
tension of the Master’s Kingdom. They were pre- 
pared to sacrifice in another direction. Money they 
had given and large effort, they were now to enter 
upon a course of church extension in which, the pas- 
tor, quickened by what he had seen of great need 
abroad, to the necessities of our own country, became 
the moving spirit, and largely by his influence laid 
the foundation for that church expansion which is 
our “slogan” today in this city. On his motion the 
Presbytery appointed a committee to go through the 
bounds of the Presbytery, to visit and stimulate and 
strengthen the weak churches and wherever they 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. E17 


found places destitute of the Gospel, they were by 
preaching to gather the people together and prepare 
the way for the organization of Presbyterian 
churches. 

It would seem as though the Eastern Shore felt 
this influence most and, like a wayward boy recog- 
nizing the voice of his mother, that portion of our 
state “first born” in the family of American Pres- 
byterians, was reclaimed and welcomed home. Con- 
gregations which had “dried up” were revitalized, 
new churches sprung up where none had been in 
nearly twenty different localities. The greatest and 
the most imperative call, however, then as now, was 
from within our own rapidly growing city. The 
church needed only to be reminded that she was 
not keeping stride with the “hurrying” town, to 
quicken her pace. “Colonization’’ was the cry which 
brought our congregation to the determination to 
act. This same spirit had also permeated the First 
Church and the two congregations, that the enter- 
prise might not fail, determined to work together in 
planting Presbyterianism in a rapidly growing sec- 
tion of the city called “Old Town,” in the neighbor- 
hood of Gay and Monument streets. Into this sec- 
tion of the city the Second Church had already sent 
a young licentiate, Mr. Roger Owen, agreeing to 
raise for his support $400. They had also secured a 
lot of ground corner of Aisquith and George streets, 


118 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


to be held in trust by the Board of Trustees of the 
Second Church for the purpose of erecting a church 
building when the time arrived. Therefore when a 
joint meeting of the elders and deacons of the First 
and Second churches was called, the way had been 
cleared for immediate action. The meeting con- 
vened in the home of Rev. J. C. Backus, who had 
become the pastor of the First Church during the 
absence of Mr. Breckinridge in Europe. He was at 
that time, as afterwards, foremost in advancing the 
cause of Presbyterianism in our Presbyterial bounds 
and heartily co-operated with Mr. Breckinridge in 
this movement. Mr. Breckinridge presided. Mr. 
Backus stated the object of the meeting. Mr. Breck- 
inridge pledged the payment of annual ground rent 
on the lot, if both churches would agree to raise 
jointly the sum of $3,000 or $5,000 for the building 
of achurch uponit. It was unanimously decided to 
raise the money. A joint building committee was 
appointed and a subscription list opened at once. 
This building was completed in 1844. The congre- 
gation was organized January 9, 1844, with forty- 
seven members. By resolution of the Session of our 
church the moderator was authorized to give one 
general letter of dismissal to those who might wish 
to go into the new congregation. Twenty-nine 
members of the Second Church thus became original 
members of the Aisquith street church. On June 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 1Ii9 


30, 1845, every obligation against the new church 
having been met, our Board of Trustees made over 
to the Aisquith street congregation the deed for the 
lot of ground. 

The attention of our people had for some years 
been directed toward Fell’s Point, where we had 
already established a mission school at the foot of 
Bond street, and where there was a growing demand 
for a church building. Accordingly an association 
of the young men of the church was formed in 1843 
to further the project. April 2, 1844, the Session 
appointed a committee to consider the expediency of 
erecting a church at Fell’s Point. A lot of ground 
was secured soon after at the corner of Broadway 
and Gough streets and the new building erected. 
This building was completed in January, 1846, and 
the new congregation organized March, 1846, with 
seventeen members from the Second Church. 

The financial condition of the church had been 
steadily growing more involved since the indebted- 
ness incurred through the settlement affected with 
Dr. Glendy and called for wise and determined 
action. Accordingly a joint meeting of the Session 
and the Committee of the church, October 12, 1837, 
appointed a sub-committee to review the whole situ- 
ation and report some plan for relief. This com- 
mittee, in November of that same year brought in 
an exhaustive report reviewing the whole financial 


120 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


history of the congregation and showing the un- 
avoidable causes leading up to their present situa- 
tion. The indebtedness of the church was discoy- 
ered to be $3,400. The committee proposed three 
things, the first two of which are undoubtedly in con- 
gregational affairs financial axioms: 

1. To come to a full stop in the contracting of new 
debts. 

2. To have the whole subject laid before the con- 


gregation. 
3. To reorganize the sinking fund. 
The committee adds: “These facts embracing a 


sketch of the past proceedings and present state of 
the church, exhibit our expenses as greater than our 
income, but we see no reason on that account for 
despondency. On the contrary we have every rea- 
son, both from what our predecessors and from what 
we ourselves have done to take courage, and to rea- 
son thus: That if they, through the blessing of 
God on their exertions, were enabled at an expendi- 
ture of more than $44,000 to erect the church; and 
if we, in the course of the last nine years, in addition 
to the current expenses of the congregation, and in 
addition to the great increase of our contributions to 
benevolent operations, have been enabled to expend 
upwards of $13,000 for temporal purposes without 
missing it, will not the same kind Providence, by 
proper exertions on our part, enable us to surmount 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. I21 


our present difficulties? The Second Presbyterian 
Church, with a few exceptions, is not so wealthy as 
some of our sister churches, but our people have ever 
been found willing on all proper occasions to do 
what they could, and these sacrifices are not to be 
estimated by the amount given, but by the ability of 
the party giving.” 

For two blessings, the committee, in concluding 
their report, make due and thankful mention: “We 
have a ‘holy and a beautiful house’ in which to wor- 
ship, and above all a pure Gospel preached to us 
while so many churches are torn with divisions and 
distracted with heresies. May these considerations 
fill our hearts with gratitude to God, with humility 
in regard to ourselves, and love to one another. 
And may the Great Head of the church inspire us 
with wisdom from on high, so to fulfill the duties of 
our trust, that His holy name may be glorified, the 
cause of pure religion promoted and the prosperity 
of our church secured and promoted.” 

In the body of this report attention was called to 
the large number of persons in the congregation who 
were not able financially either to buy or rent a pew 
and suggested that they be requested to give as much 
as they were able toward defraying the expenses of 
the church. This suggestion was adopted and was 
the “root” out of which has grown our present en- 
velope system. 


I22 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Placing the report of this committee before the 
congregation resulted in increased confidence in the 
officers of the church on the part of the members, so 
that the report of “1838” congratulates the members 
on “the prosperity of our financial concerns.” At 
an election of the Committee held October 22, 1838, 
the elders who were members of the Committee 
“expressed a wish to retire from the Committee in a 
body, assigning as a reason that they did not con- 
sider it compatible with the spirit of Presbyterianism 
to hold two offices; the one spiritual, the other tem- 
poral.” The Committee, though evidently agreeing 
in the view expressed, did not think it advisable for 
the entire number to resign at that meeting. 

Pending the repairs upon the church building in 
1839 the vestry of Christ Episcopal Church unani- 
mously agreed “that Breckinridge’s congregation 
shall have the use of old Christ Church until the 
repairs of their own church are completed.” This 
very cordial response to our request fully merited the 
following resolution of the Session, under date of 
February 4, 1840: “The grateful thanks of Session 
are justly due to the rector and vestry of Christ 
Church for the use of their church near Baltimore 
street bridge, during the time the Second Presbyter- 
ian Church was undergoing repairs, and that the 
obligation was greatly enhanced by the very kind 
and courteous manner in which it was granted.” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 123 


Dr. Breckinridge, in 1839, was appointed by the 
Foreign Mission Board to become their missionary 
in France, to be stationed in Paris. Letters from 
the secretary of the Board, Mr. Walter Lowrie, were 
laid before Session. The Session and congregation 
were decidedly of the opinion that their pastor ought 
not to accept the appointment, in which he after- 
wards concurred. A committee was appointed Feb- 
ruary 27, 1839, for the purpose of erecting some 
suitable memento of Dr. Glendy in the church. We 
cannot ascertain the result of their work, but it 
would seem to be a commendable thing to do. The 
parsonage was completed this year at a total expense 
of nearly $10,000. 

In the Religious and Literary Magazine, of which 
Dr. Breckinridge was the senior editor, an article 
appeared in November, 1839, charging that an aged 
German Catholic who desired to become a Christian 
was confined in a cell of the almshouse. For this 
article civil suit.was entered against Dr. Breckin- 
ridge by a man by the name of Maguire, who, after 
repeated endeavors, succeeded in inducing “the 
grand jury on ex-parte investigation” to make a pre- 
sentment. A warrant was issued against Dr. Breck- 
inridge as in the case of a common felon, of which 
he says: “I do not complain either of the injustice 
or the indignity; I barely recount them.’ Ina letter 
to the congregation he asks concurrence in a deter- 


124 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


mination not to perform the duties of pastor until 
the charge was removed. 

In commenting on this proposed action he adds: 
“That such a necessity should exist would under all 
possible circumstances fill my heart with profound 
anguish. But that it should exist in the present con- 
juncture of our affairs full of such deep and such 
tender interest, on so many and such impressive 
accounts, renders it one of the greatest trials of my 
life. My earnest request is that all your efforts and 
exercises, and especially your proposed thank-offer- 
ing to God on next Sabbath day, in commemoration 
of the fiftieth anniversary of the General Assembly 
of our church, and the special meetings of persons 
newly awakened to the importance of divine things, 
may proceed as if nothing had occurred. When the 
Under Shepherd is removed, the Great Bishop of our 
souls becomes only more immediately the Shepherd 
of the Flock.” 

Then follows a calm and “soldier-like” look at 
possible eventualities, pressing from his heart 
these words, which snatch the victory from all the 
foes of the children of God however successful they 
may seem to be, words of faith, strong, abiding faith 
in God and his brethren, “And now, my very dear 
friends and brethren in Christ Jesus our Lord, let us 
meet this extraordinary and afflicting stroke with the 
faith, patience, humility and prayerfulness which 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 125 


becomes our profession. And let us expect the 
result, whatever it may be, with the temper of heart 
appertaining to those who ‘know that all things 
work together for good to those that love God, to 
them who are called according to His purpose.’ ” 

A congregational meeting was called which 
refused to agree in this position taken by their pas- 
tor. When the venerable moderator, General Wil- 
liam McDonald, called for those who did not favor 
the views of Session, namely, that Mr. Breckinridge 
should continue to act as their pastor during the 
trial, to rise, not one arose. “Thank God!” he ex- 
claimed, “there is not one. The people, old and 
young, male and female, are as unanimous as their 
Session in desiring their beloved pastor’s return.” 

In commenting on this action in an article pub- 
lished in a subsequent issue of the magazine, Dr. 
Breckinridge expresses his thankful appreciation of 
the moral support thus given to him by his people. 
Of the Session of that day he adds this testimony: 

“These are men of the first influence and rank 
amongst us in all that makes either influence or rank 
valuable to generous and virtuous minds. They are 
amongst the fathers of our city, most of them rem- 
nants of a past and glorious age; men who through 
a period longer than the life of him over whose 
head they throw the shield of their spotless names, 
have built up in the face of countless vicissitudes 


126 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


characters which defy malignity and challenge confi- 
dence and love. Oppression itself is sweet when 
such tokens follow in its train. And what shall we 
say to that other and more affecting manifestation. 
Alas! Alas! Who is worthy of such regards? Who 
is not overwhelmed by them? In the midst of trials 
and persecutions, here is the unanimous testimony 
of a thousand hearts and voices, not only bearing a 
testimony more noble in them who give than honor- 
able to any who may receive it, but so doing it as by 
its very tenderness to break our hearts. There are 
the fathers and mothers of our Zion by the side of 
whose tottering steps we have walked with filial rev- 
erence, not to give but to get instruction; there are 
the children of God brought from darkness into His 
marvellous light, by His blessing on our poor labors; 
there are our friends, our companions and fellow- 
workmen, who, for long years, have seen our daily 
walk, partaken of our daily trials, helped our daily 
weaknesses; there are the children whom we have 
baptized into Christ’s visible kingdom; there are the 
families we have united in sacred wedlock; there the 
bereaved and broken-hearted, with whom we have 
sat us down to weep; there the favored of the Lord, 
in whose blessings we have rejoiced. Here be they 
all, and here their testimony. Precious token of the 
smiles of Heaven; sacred lesson to the ministers of 
Christ. We are sensible and we deem it proper to 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 127 


make the remark here and under present circum- 
stances, that our humble and sincere efforts to be 
faithful in our lot, have secured to us alike the per- 
secution of our enemies and the affectionate com- 
mendation of our friends.” When the case came to 
trial, the whole attention of the court was given to 
it for more than eight days. Great crowds attended 
who patiently listened through the whole proceed- 
ings. When the case was given to the jury they 
failed to agree upon a verdict. Dr. Breckinridge 
was the uncompromising foe of “Papism” as he 
termed Catholicism, and this was but one of many 
attempts to overthrow his influence or silence his 
tongue. After the trial the committee of the con- 
gregation passed a series of resolutions expressive of 
their sincere gratitude and of the whole congrega- 
tion, “to Almighty God, for His great deliverance 
wrought for our esteemed pastor in the late fiery 
trial for an alleged libel,’ expressive also of their sin- 
cere thanks to the eminent and learned counsel, who 
conducted the defense for the zeal, ability and elo- 
quence exhibited by them on the occasion, and ex- 
pressive of their approbation of the Session of this 
church in giving the congregation an opportunity at 
a trying moment of testifying to the world their 
unshaken confidence in and undiminished attachment 
to their beloved pastor. 


128 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Nor did the appreciation of the splendid services 
of counsel stop with resolutions. The congregation 
determined that each one of the counsel should have 
some token of esteem. To Mr. J. J. Crittenden was 
presented a silver pitcher and two waiters inscribed : 


To J. J. Crittenden 
from 
The Second Presbyterian Church 
of Baltimore. 
A token of gratitude for professional services ren- 
dered their pastor, R. J. Breckinridge. 
March, 1840. 


To Mr. William Schley a silver bowl, waiter and 
two spoons was presented similarly inscribed. This 
silver plate was made at a cost of $375. 

An extract from Mr. Schley’s letter of acknowl- 
edgement will show the spirit in which these men 
must have entered upon their advocacy of the case: 
“T accept this present of plate from the congregation 
with pleasure and with thanks. They have done me 
great honor; an honor which any advocate, however 
exalted in reputation, might justly value as such; an 
honor, heightened in its bestowal by the age and 
standing of those through whose agency it has been 
conferred.” 


JONATHAN EDWARDS 
SEVENTH PASTOR 
1869-1871 


CHAPTER. VET. 
DR. BRECKINRIDGE CLOSES HIS PASTORATE. 


1841.---Dr. Breckinridge was elected Moderator 
of the General Assembly. 

The 14th day of May, 1841, was observed by the 
congregation as a day of fasting, humiliation and 
prayer, recommended by President Tyler. The 
Session in the following resolution adopting the rec- 
ommendation. “It having pleased Almighty God to 
remove by death William H. Harrison, the late Pres- 
ident of the United States, and the Vice-President 
on coming to the Presidency having recommended 
that Friday, the 14th day of May, be observed as a 
day of national humiliation with reference to that 
afflictive stroke of Divine Providence, and “the Pres- 
bytery of Baltimore having recommended the solemn 
observance of the day, thus appointed, as a day of 
fasting, humiliation and prayer, together with public 
services in all our churches,’ now in obedience to 
these appointments and recommendations this con- 
gregation will observe the said day by keeping it as 
appointed and by uniting in such public services as 
the pastor shall appoint.” 

It was a far sadder congregation to which came 
in August, 1841, the news of the departure from 


130 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


earthly scenes of their former pastor, Rev. John 
Breckinridge, D. D., of whose death in his old home 
we have already spoken. The congregation was 
deeply affected and literally went into mourning, the 
church being heavily draped in black. To the be- 
reaved wife and the orphaned children they sent their 
consolations. There was spread upon the records of 
Session these resolutions: 

Resolved. 1. That we have heard with unfeigned 
regret of the death of the Rev. Dr. John Breckin- 
ridge, one of the former pastors of this church. 

2. That whilst we recognize in this event an over- 
ruling and wise Providence, yet we cannot but 
mourn the loss which the church at large has sus- 
tained, and we cannot but feel that the Presbyterian 
Church has lost one of her ablest and most fearless 
supporters, and her ministry one of its brightest 
ornaments. 

3. That we remember with gratitude to the Great 
Head of the church, the unparalleled success with 
which he crowned the labors of his faithful servant 
during the space of five years, the time that we en- 
joyed his pastoral care. 

4. That we would thus publicly recognize this 
Providence as peculiarly addressed to us, in view of 
the relations which we sustained to the deceased. 

5. That we record our deep sympathy for our pas- 
tor, Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, D. D., and fer- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. T31 


vently implore for him the rich consolations of the 
Gospel. 

6. That we tender our affectionate sympathies to 
the aged surviving parent of the deceased, to his 
afflicted widow and orphaned children, and to the 
family of the Rev. Dr. Miller, his honored father-in- 
law. 

7. That as a suitable expression of our feelings 
we direct that the church be put in mourning. 

8. That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded 
to the venerable mother and afflicted widow of the 
deceased in Lexington, Ky., and to the Rev. Dr. 
Miller in Princeton, N. J.,” 

Let us now set the 7th of December, 1841, in the 
history of the Presbyterian Church, over against 
March 11, 1805. Then a lottery was not only per- 
mitted, but projected and fostered by the building 
committee of the church, and now, so radical had 
been the change of opinion and so sure the convic- 
tions on this matter that we find Session citing a 
member of the church to appear before them to 
answer to the charge of having purchased lottery 
tickets. The accused acknowledged his having done 
as charged, but stated he was not in the habit of 
doing so, nor did he know it was against the rules of 
our church; that he had done the same under sudden 
temptation and in the future he would entirely 
refrain from dealing inthe same. These statements 


132 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


were deemed satisfactory and the case dismissed. 

A ground rent was created this year—1841—of 
$5,000 upon the church property to pay off certain 
loans contracted. The congregation was to have 
the privilege of paying off this ground rent at the 
expiration of twenty years. Early in the year 1842 
Session divided the congregation into three geo- 
graphical districts and assigned a committee of 
elders to the charge of each district. They were to 
hold from house to house, if practicable, meetings 
for prayer and exhortation, and were to visit as 
often as possible the homes of the members. 

There can be no question of the practical and bene- 
ficial effects of such meetings. 

In December, 1842, a marble column and baptis- 
mal bowl were presented to the congregation by Cap- 
tain Purviance and others, for which the Session duly 
thanked him. 

The third attempt to take from the pastorate of 
the Second Church, Dr. Breckinridge was successful. 
In January, 1845, he was offered the Presidency of 
Jefferson College and the pastorate of the McChord 
Presbyterian Church of Lexington, Ky., where he 
had formerly been an elder. He gave no definite 
answer to these calls until he had laid the matter 
before Session, stating at the same time that in con- 
sequence of the state of his health he was strongly of 
the impression that he ought not to continue his 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 133 


pastoral relations, as the amount of labor he was 
called upon to perform was beyond his strength. 
The whole mater was freely discussed by Session 
and they decided to make every sacrifice to retain 
the pastoral services of Dr. Breckinridge. They 
considered that as he had lost his health in their ser- 
vice, it was their duty to afford him such relaxation 
as would tend to its restoration. The congregation 
was called together and took action heartily second- 
ing the Session in every effort they might make to 
retain their pastor. 

It seemed best to him, however, to accept the Pres- 
idency of Jefferson College, then situated at Can- 
onsburg, Pa., and the pastoral tie was severed by 
the Presbytery. The following is an extract from 
the minutes of Presbytery: 

Thursday, 17th April, 1845. 

Presbytery met in First Presbyterian Church of 
Alexandria. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge having signi- 
fied his willingness to accept the call from the church 
and college in Canonsburg, Pa. It was on motion, 
Resolved, That the pastoral relation between Rev. R. 
J. Breckinridge and the Second Presbyterian Church 
of Baltimore be dissolved from the 1st Sabbath of 
May next. Dr. Laurie was appointed to preach in 
said church on the 1st Sabbath of May, and an- 
nounce to the congregation the act of dissolution. 

The following letter was addressed to the Rev. Dr. 
Breckinridge by the Session April 27, 1845: 


134 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


“Respected and Dear Sir: The undersigned mem- 
bers of the Session having listened to your farewell 
address with feelings of admiration, which they are 
altogether unable to describe, beg leave most affec- 
tionately in behalf of themselves and the congrega- 
tion they represent to reciprocate most cordially the 
kind and friendly feelings which you were pleased to 
manifest towards them in that address and to assure 
you that, whilst they are deeply afflicted at losing you 
as their pastor, they are greatly consoled at your 
parting from them in such a spirit of Christian love. 
So long as the question of your going away was an 
open one, they did all they could to oppose, but now 
that it has been settled by the proper tribunals, it is 
their duty to bow to the decision and to rejoice that, 
aithough the pastoral relation has been dissolved, the 
equally tender ties of affection have been strength- 
ened. And they cherish the fond hope that they will 
- often have the pleasure of seeing your face and hear- 
ing your voice again. 

“The proceedings in the Second Presbyterian 
Church on Sabbath last were regarded by all as not 
only unusually affecting, but also deeply interesting, 
and the tears which ran down every cheek in that 
crowded audience, while they manifested the deep 
sympathy that responded in every bosom to your 
own struggling emotions, evinced at the same time 
the high estimation in which you are held by this 
community. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 135 


“The undersigned regard it as a subject of un- 
feigned thanksgiving that, as a separation was to 
take place it has been effected in a spirit so honorable 
to Christianity. You have kindly asked your people 
to remember you in their prayers. 

“Dear Sir: They cannot forget the happy seasons 
they have enjoyed with you. They will remember 
you and yours and they will ever esteem it as a priv- 
ilege, though far apart, in all their several meetings, 
to meet you at a Throne of Grace, knowing assuredly 
that you will not forget them. The members of the 
Session could not, without doing violence to their 
feelings, deny themselves the pleasure of thus ad- 
dressing you at parting. They have not been able, 
except in a very imperfect manner, to do justice to 
their feelings, but they can safely assure you that you 
carry with you to your new field of labor the best 
wishes of the best people of this city and also the 
still more endearing regards of your own congrega- 
tion, to whom you have been so faithful a pastor. 
And now, dear sir and dear friend, allow the Session 
to bear testimony of your fidelity. You have not 
tailed to declare the whole counsel of God, and are 
‘pure from the blood of all men.’ They ‘commend 
you to God, and to the word of His Grace, which is 
able to build you up and to give you an inheritance 
among all them which are sanctified.’ Amen.” 


136 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


While President of Jefferson College he also 
preached in the Presbyterian Church in the village 
of Canonsburg. After serving as President of 
Jefferson College two years, he was called to the 
pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Lex- 
ington, Ky., and became also superintendent of pub- 
lic instruction in Kentucky. From there, by ap- 
pointment of the General Assembly in 1853, he went 
to the seminary at Danville as Professor of Exegetic, 
Didactic and Polemic Theology, where he remained 
until 1856. His health almost completely failing 
him in that year, he took but little part in public life 
and passed the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage 
in quietness. He departed this life in Danville, Ky.. 
December 27, 1871. 

His was a national fame, both as a debater and a 
writer. His knowledge of law, civil and ecclesias- 
tical, was often the dismay of his opponents. While 
in the home his knowledge of human nature and his 
native kindliness and wit made him a choice one for 
companionship. He will be especially remembered, 
however, for his bold and fearless utterances against 
the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, his 
earnest advocacy of the use of the Bible in the public 
schools and his championship of a very unpopular 
catise—the cause of temperance. 

His writings proclaim him to have been a man sk 
great versatility, for there is no more enjoyable nor 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 137 


interesting volume of travels written than those in 
which he covers his tour of Europe, nor on the other 
hand, has any controversialist produced a stronger 
defense of any system of theology than this soldier 
of the Cross, presented in his “The Knowledge of 
God Objectively Considered,” which was published 
while he was professor at Danville, and went 
through two editions. While in Baltimore he was 
one of the editors of the Baltimore Religious and 
Literary Magazine. 

His sermon “Fidelity in Our Lot,” preached by 
appointment of the General Assembly of the Presby- 
terian Church, at their meeting in Nashville, Tenn., 
in May, 1856, and first published by order of the 
Board of Domestic Missions, found a place also in a 
volume of sermons entitled “Pulpit Eloquence of the 
Nineteenth Century,” as an example of the eloquence 
of the American pulpit. 

Few men have taken a livelier interest in the sub- 
ject of education than Robert J. Breckinridge. It 
is chiefly to him that the state of Kentucky is in- 
debted for her school system, and but for him at one 
time the seminary at Danville could not have existed. 
He was largely instrumental in removing all person- 
alities from the great controversy which divided the 
Presbyterian Church and of placing the decision of 
the whole matter upon fundamental principles. 
He was chosen moderator of the General Assembly 


138 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


in 1841, when he had been in the ministry but eight 


years and a half. Though carefully avoiding ex- 
treme opinion on either side of the slavery question, 


he labored both as a minister and as a citizen zeal- 
ously and effectively for the amelioration of the con- 
dition of the black race. 

In Baltimore, so distinguished had been his ser- 
vices in behalf of the “free blacks’’ that more than a 
thousand of them united in presenting him with a 
valuable piece of gold plate as a token of their appre- 
ciation of his services in their behalf. His manner 
as a speaker was highly nervous, simple and direct. 
He always had a purpose in speaking and everything 
ke said served that purpose. His every auditor went 
away from his presence impressed by what he had 
heard. 

There had been spared to the congregation from 
its very organization that patriot soldier, that emi- 
nent citizen, that loyal Presbyterian and sincere 
Christian, Gen. William McDonald. His value as a 
member of Session can never be estimated, his pres- 
ence as leader in all that was good in the history of 
the church was “worth ten thousand men.” Ever 
foremost, there was no committee appointed to 
which important business was intrusted, from the 
building of the first church edifice and the call of Dr. 
Glendy, to the stirring times of trial through which 
he championed for the congregation the fame and 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 139 


good name of their pastor, Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, 
that he was not the Chairman. He was the first 
member of “The Committee of the Second Presby- 
terian Church” and continued so to be until the time 
of his death. Is it a subscription for a new church 
building, for repairs, for a parsonage, for a Sabbath 
school room, for the poor? “Lo! William Mc- 
Donald’s name led all the rest.’ These are simple 
facts and true, gathered in handfuls through the 
pages which record the deeds of those who promise 
and perform the same. 

He was a “ways and means” committee, always 
solicitous for the welfare of the church and during 
his life contributing very largely. Nor did he forget 
her needs when face to face with the approaching 
end. It was his desire, which was faithfully ex- 
ecuted by his son, Samuel McDonald, that the cer- 
tificate of stock of the corporation he held be can- 
celled and that the sum of $5,000 be given to pay off 
the ground rent recently created upon the church 
property. To the Sabbath school he left the sum of 
$300. The Board of Trustees thus record their 
appreciation of his character: ‘Whereas it has 
pleased the All Wise Disposer of events to remove 
by death our well beloved brother Gen. William Mc- 
Donald, the oldest member of this board, and an 
elder in this church from its first organization, the 
surviving members of this board deem it to be their 


140 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


duty and consider it to be both suitable and proper 
to spread on the records of this church some testi- 
monial, however feeble, expressive of their regret for 
the loss of so valuable a member, of their sincere 
sympathy with his bereaved family, and of the pro- 
found respect in which they hold his character as a 
man and a Christian. 

General McDonald filled a large space in the pub- 
lic eye. He held many important offices, the duties 
of which he discharged with punctuality and fidelity. 
Active, industrious and enterprising, he acquired, by 
means the most honorable, an independent fortune, 
and by his public spirit contributed to advance the 
growth and prosperity of this his adopted city. 
Instead of allowing himself to be puffed up by his 
wealth, he was one of the meekest and humblest of 
men, and while in the discussion of ordinary ques- 
tions, he was yielding and obliging to all, yet wher- 


ever principle was involved, he was firm and inflexi- 
ble in the highest degree. To all the religious socie- 


ties, to all the benevolent operations and to all the 
charities of the day, General McDonald was among 
the most generous contributors, ever dispensing 
around to those who suffer in this vale of tears, the 
comforts to which prosperity gives birth. 

In all the meetings of this Board he was ever 
amongst the most punctual and regular in his attend- 
ance. The members looked up to him as to a father 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. I4!I 


and ever found in his wisdom and experience a safe 
guide in all times of doubt and perplexity. He was 
ever keenly alive to the honor and interests of this 
congregation and thought no sacrifices too great to 
promote both its temporal and spiritual prosperity, 
and the members will long call to mind with feelings 
of tender regret those happy social meetings, over 
which this venerable man presided with so much 
modesty, simplicity and dignity. But it was in the 
last solemn act of his life that he gave the most un- 
equivocal proof of his strong attachment to his, 
beloved church. He remembered she was in debt,. 
and in his last will and testament bequeathed her the 
large sum of $6,000 to help her out of it, besides 
leaving the sum of $300 to the Sunday school 
attached to the same. 

As a merchant he was distinguished for his un- 
blemished integrity. As a soldier of two wars for 
his undaunted bravery, his pure patriotism and un- 
bending fidelity. As a Christian for his meekness, 
humility and zeal to promote the glory of God and 
the salvation of lost men. During his last illness, 
which was both long and painful, he bore his intense 
sufferings with the truest fortitude, patience and 
resignation, testifying to all around him the power of 
divine grace through faith in a crucified Redeemer, 
to overcome the last enemy and to enable him to 
exclaim with the great apostle, “Oh, death! where is 


142 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


thy sting, Oh, grave! where is thy victory. Thanks ~ 
be to God who giveth us the victory ili. our 
Lord Jesus Christ.” 

There in the midst of kind and devoted friends 
and in the bosom of his affectionate family did this 
aged Christian patriot, this dying elder, full of hope 
and full of peace, fall asleep on the bosom of Jesus 
on Monday, the 18th of August, 1845, in the 87th 
year of his age. 

The long and solemn funeral procession, civil and 
military, which followed his remains to the grave, 
as well as the impressive religious services rendered 
cn the occasion, were strong attestations of the high 
estimation in which General McDonald was held 
by all classes of his fellow citizens. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE PASTORATE OF LEWIS W. GREEN, D. D. 


At a meeting of the congregation held February 2, 
1845, Rev. J. H. Thornwell, of Charleston, was 
elected pastor without one dissenting vote, but after 
giving the call long consideration, the institution 
with which he was connected refusing to release him 
from his engagement, he declined the call. 

At a subsequent meeting of the congregation held 
June 24, 1846, for the purpose, Rev. D. M. Palmer 
was chosen pastor, but declined. The congregation 
was by no means discouraged at these repeated 
declinations, but in a spirit of submissiveness and of 
humble inquiry, met, at the suggestion of some of the 
ladies of the congregation and by appointment of 
the Session, on a day set apart, Wednesday, Septem- 
ber 2, 1846, a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and 
prayer to Almighty God, that they might “beseech 
Hiim wherefore He hath this controversy with us; 
that He would spare His people and not give His 
heritage over to reproach; that He would not utterly 
forsake us nor cast us off forever; that He would 
enable us all to repent of our sins and turn to Him 
with the whole heart; that He would graciously turn 
unto us and lift upon us the light of His reconciled 


144 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


countenance, and send us an Under-shepherd, whose 
labors He will own and bless, that the salvation of 
our people may again go forth as brightness and her 
righteousness as a lamp that burneth.” One month 
later this same congregation, led of God in their an- 
swer to their prayer, elected at a meeting called for 
the purpose on October 14, 1846, the Rev. Dr. L. W. 
Green, to be their pastor. Dr. Green was at the time 
a professor in the Western Theological Seminary at 
Alleghany, Pa. Lewis Warner Green was the son of 
Willis and Sarah Reed-Green, and was born in Boyle 
county, Ky., January 28, 1806. He was a graduate of 
Center College, Danville, Ky. Intending to study 
law, because of a hesitancy of speech, he soon turned 
his attention to medicine. This study proved very 
distasteful to him, and he determined to overcome 
his physical defect, which, being accomplished, he 
entered Princeton Theological Seminary and gradu- 
ated in 1832. He was licensed to preach the Gospel 
of the Son of God by the Presbytery of Transsylva- 
nia. 

For two years following he taught in Center Col- 
lege, Kentucky. He then went abroad where he stud- 
ied for several years. Upon his return to America 
he was ordained to the ministry and became associ- 
ate pastor of the Danville Presbyterian Church. 

From Danville, Professor Green went to Hanover, 
Indiana, to a professorship in the New Albany The- 


ROBERT Hi FULTON 
EIGHTH PASTOR 
1872-1883 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 145 


ological Seminary. He was scarcely “at home’ in 
New Albany Seminary until the General Assembly 
appointed him Professor of Hebrew and Oriental 
languages in the Western Theological Seminary at 
Allegheny, Pa. It was after he had been seven years 
at Allegheny, that the attention of our church was 
turned toward him and a most earnest call was tend- 
ered him, which he accepted. 

“Dr. L. W. Green was installed by the Presbytery 
3rd of March, 1847.” 

He was now engaged in his desired work of a min- 
ister of Jesus Christ, for he had ever cherished the 
hope that he would one day become a pastor. His 
whole heart entered into his duties, his soul rejoiced 
at the prospect before him, and he called upon all his 
finely trained powers to come to his aid. The dream 
of a lifetime seemed securely in his grasp. Large 
audiences began to gather to hear him, and his fame 
soon spread throughout the city, so that he was 
counted “the foremost preacher of his day,” yet his 
beautiful dream of pastoral work and of preaching 
the Gospel of Jesus soon faded away, when he began 
to realize after he had been preaching but a year that 
his health was seriously impaired under the strain of 
his unsparing efforts. 

In August, 1848, he communicated to the Session, 
his call to become the President of Hamden-Sydney 
College, Va., but suggested that no definite action 


146 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


be taken until his return from a visit to that section 
of country. In which suggestion the Session heartily 
concurred. On August 28, Dr. Green asked Session 
to join him in a request to Presbytery for the dissolu- 
tion of the pastoral relation, because the state of his 
health would not permit him to retain his pastoral 
charge. With great reluctance, Session and the con- 
gregation agreed. The congregation, expressive of 
their sorrow at the dissolution, passed the following 
resolution: “It is with feelings of the deepest regret 
that this congregation looks forward to its separa- 
tion from a pastor so beloved, so able and so faithful; 
a pastor whose labors amongst us have been so 
owned and blessed of the great head of the church; 
a pastor by whose conciliating efforts, peace and har- 
mony have been happily restored to this congrega- 
tion, which was greatly agitated when he took 
charge of it, by repeated disappointments from hav- 
ing been so long without a stated minister. 

Resolved, That this congregation deeply lament 
the affliction with which its beloved pastor has been 
visited and while it offers him its kindest sympathy 
and condolence, would at the same time respectfully 
assure him that its members, in their humble prayers, 
will not fail to implore Almighty God that He would 
in His infinite mercy and goodness be. graciously 
pleased to restore him to his wonted health and use- 
fulness and that he would greatly bless and prosper 
him in his new field of labor. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 147 


Resolved, That this congregation heard with pro- 
found satisfaction the declaration made by Dr. Green 
at the close of the morning service of last Sunday, 
namely : that there was no other cause which had in- 
duced him to ask for a dissolution and that the rela- 
tions between himself and the members of the con- 
gregation, were of the most amicable nature. This 
declaration will greatly tend to alleviate the pain of 
separation.” 

Dr. Green was an impassioned preacher, vivid, 
original, attractive. One who knew him intimately 
in Baltimore, said of him to a visitor who was anx- 
ious to hear him, “He talks Homer and the old Greek 
and Roman poets and philosophers and everything 
else here in Baltimore, and he mixes it all up with re- 
ligion and makes people listen to him. But he is not 
a revival preacher. He makes flights in the clouds 
and you will wonder how he is ever goimg to get 
down. But I reckon you will be delighted to hear 
him.” 

The reader is bound to hesitate at this, and wonder 
just what sort of preacher this man was and whether 
his gospel was not “another gospel.” 

The man who “makes fights into the ote ” did 
doubtless quote the classics and soar to heaven on his 
Pegasus, now and then, but these were only like the 
flourish of the trumpet which announces some im- 
portant arrival or like the sweep which your pen will 


148 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


almost unconsciously make when it has written a 
good word for Jesus Christ and the sons of men. 
The man of whom the following lines were written 
could not have been “flighty” nor merely “classical.” 
They were sent to him by a member of his congrega- 
tion signed “Miriam.” 

“Ambassador of Christ! how fearlessly 

Thou liftest up the voice to publish forth 

The tidings of salvation to the lost 

And ruined sons of men; how earnestly 

Dost thou entreat the thirsty soul to come 

And drink of that fair river which makes glad 

The city of our God. O! with what love 

Dost thou beseech the weary, sin-sick soul 

To accept the invitation Jesus gave 

‘Come unto me, ye heavy laden, come, 

And I will give you rest.’ With what-a voice 

Of thunder dost thou set the terrors forth 

Of God’s Almighty law, and seek to rouse 

The slumbering sinner from his deadly dream 

Of false security. How gently, too, 

Dost thou encourage those who tremblingly 

Are following after God, whose faith is weak, 

Yet by the pure word strengthened, will grow up 

Unto the Christian’s perfect stature. One 

There is, less than the least of all who love 

The Blessed Saviour, who will long rejoice, 

In having heard those glorious Gospel truths, 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 149 


By thee set forth, and in the faith built up, 

And strengthened by Almighty Grace, will run 

With greater zeal along the Heavenly road. 

May God be with thee, champion of the Cross! 

And crown thy labors with immortal souls, 

And when thou hast thy hallowed work fulfilled 

On earth, and gone to thy reward above, 

Then mays’t thou shine in glory as the sun, 

And as the brightness of the firmament 

Forever and forever; then shall praise, 

High, holy, pure, be given to Him who sits 

Upon the Throne, and to the lamb who died 

And lives again. Glory forevermore.” 

Dr. Green was president of Hamden-Sydney Col- 
lege after leaving the pastorate of the Second 
Church, some eight years, and left Hamden-Sydney 
to become President of the Kentucky State Normal 
School. In August, 1857, he became President of 
Center College, Kentucky. He passed away from 
earth, May 26, 1863. 


GHAPTER 2G 


THE TIMES OF JOSEPH T. SMITH, D. D. 


In 1847, the congregation reported to Presbytery 
404 communicant members. The following year 
only 241. In the meantime the congregation had 
had a vigorous “house-cleaning,”’ by which 80 mem- 
bers, who had ‘‘a name to live, but were dead,” were 
stricken from the roll and an error discovered in the 
old roll which made a difference of 81 more. This 
would appear to be serious business and it is, but it 
would be more serious not to suffer the process. This 
disease of “formalism” or “indifferentism’” spreads 
rapidly in a congregation, beginning at the outer 
most branches, it would in time bring down the par- 
ent trunk. 

December 20th 1848, at a congregational meeting 
called for the purpose, Rev. Jos. T. Smith was unan- 
imously elected pastor. Joseph T. Smith was born 
in Mercer county, Pa., November the 6th, 1818, of 
Scotch-Irish. parentage. His father’s name being 
Joseph, his mother’s, Elizabeth Donald. While a 
student at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., he 
united with the church. He was characterized among 
his fellow students for his gentleness of character, 
his genial, kindly, winning manners. The boy was 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. I51 


“father of the man.” Upon graduating from col- 
lege in 1837, he began the study of Theology under 
the Rev. Samuel Tate, and after completing his 
course was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Pres- 
bytery of Erie, in April, 1841. As a licentiate, he 
preached throughout the oil regions of Northwestern 
Pennsylvania, then but little better than a wilderness. 
He had the honor of being selected by his “home 
church,” the First Presbyterian of Mercer, Pa., to be 
its pastor, and having accepted, was ordained and 
installed April, 1842. 

Some seven years later as the Rector of Christ 
Church, Baltimore, with which congregation, the 
Second Church had been upon the most friendly 
terms, was detained at Mercer, while enroute North. 
There being no Episcopal Church in the town, he 
went to the Presbyterian church and heard Dr. Smith 
preach. Upon his return, he strongly recommended 
Dr. Smith for the vacant pulpit of the Second 
Church. When the congregation heard him for 
themselves, they said, ‘““The half has not been told” 
us, and immediately made out their formal call upon 
his services. 

The commissioners of the congregation appointed 
to prosecute the call before Erie Presbytery, reported 
at a congregational meeting, March 13th, 1849, that, 
“acting under an impression produced by corres- 
pondence with Mr. Smith, that a written communi- 


152 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


cation would accomplish the object so unanimously 
desired by the congregation, your commissioners 
adopted that course, and did not in person attend the 
meeting of the Presbytery of Erie. The Rev. Mr. 
Smith, (unexpectedly to us) determined to abstain 
from any expression of opinion and leave the whole 
matter to his Presbytery. The Presbytery after due 
consideration decided not to place the call in his 
hands. We have no doubt, had Mr. Smith expressed 
the opinion that his path of duty and usefulness, led 
to Baltimore, the result would have been otherwise, 
and we are inclined now to believe, had your commis- 
sioners been on the spot, the doubt that surrounded 
Mr. Smith as to duty would have been removed. 

Secondly. The congregation is happily and per- 
fectly united in believing that Mr. Smith will suit 
us. 

Thirdly. There is good reason to hope from what 
has already been stated, that a call made out and 
prosecuted by commissioners will be successful. 

We, therefore, in view of all the circumstances, 
would recommend a renewal of the call by the con- 
- gregation and the appointment of commissioners to 
prosecute the call in person, at the next meeting of 
the Erie Presbytery.” 

Rev. Jos. T. Smith was then elected for the second 
time by a viva voce vote. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 153 


This call was fortified by a letter urging accept- 
ance by Dr. Johns. Mr. Smith accepted and was in- 
stalled pastor of the Second Church in April, 1849. 
The minutes of Presbytery read: 

“Rey. Joseph T. Smith was received from the 
Presbytery of Erie, 17th June, 1849, and accepted 
the call to the Second Church. The following com- 
mittee was appointed to install him on Friday, the 
23d of June; Rev. Mr. Peck to preside and preach 
the sermon. Rev. Dr. Plummer to give the charge 
to the pastor; Rev. Mr. Cross, the charge to the peo- 
ple.” 

During the interim, the committee on supplies had 
found great difficulty in securing ministers for the 
pulpit and were frequently compelled to seek the ser- 
vices of their Methodist brethren. In acknowledge- 
ment of uniform kindness and heartiness in respond- 
ing to these sudden calls, the session passed the fol- 
ing resolutions, April 30th, 1849: 

“Whereas, on the resignation of the Rev. Dr. 
Green, the committee of supply had frequently to de- 
pend upon the services of Methodist ministers and on 
all occasions their applications were responded to 
with promptitude and Christian liberality ; but espec- 
ially is this congregation, indebted to the Rev. E. Y. 
Reese, for the repeated and very acceptable services, 
rendered by him in her time of need, and for the 
spirit of cordiality in which those services were ren- 


154 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


dered; therefore, Resolved, That this congregation 
will ever cherish a grateful remembrance of the obli- 
gations which it is under to the Methodist clergy of 
this city, and an ardent desire to cultivate the kindest 
intercourse and the most friendly relations with their 
Methodist brethren generally.” 

Monthly concerts of prayer for the conversion of 
the world were held upon the afternoon of the Ist 
Sabbath of each month. The offering for Foreign 
Missions being lifted in the evening of the same day. 

Soon after the settlement of Dr. Smith, the ques- 
tion of repairing and remodeling the church building 
came under consideration. It was found, however, 
that the necessary changes would involve an expen- 
diture of from $6,000 to $7,000. 

This contemplated making the main entrance on 
Lloyd street so as to place the pulpit at the west end 
of the church, removing the galleries, except that at 
the eastern, or Lloyd street end, and making other 
alterations incident to the foregoing changes. It 
was found that by a slight increase of expenditure 
an entirely new building could be erected, embracing 
modern improvements and affording greater con- 
venience to both pastor and people. The proposed 
new building was to be 82% ft. in length and 52 ft. 
iis breadth, with the principal front on Baltimore 
street, the estimated cost to be $16,000. The com- 
mittee proposed to raise this money in three ways: 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 155 


By subscription, $6,000; by sale of a part of the west- 
ern end of the church lot, $6,000, and by the sale of 
pews in the church, $4,000. 

The arguments of the Board of Trustees were 
convincing, namely, that the present building was 
antiquated and hard to preach in; that any repairs 
which might be made would, at the best, only result 
in a patchwork job, and the cost would closely ap- 
proximate that of a new building; that as at present 
there was so high a price put upon pews, the Board 
feund it difficult to rent them, while in the new 
church there would be an increased number of pews, 
for which a lower rental could be asked, and hence, 
a greater number rented, increasing the revenue of 
the church. 

The subscriptions received for the new building 
amounted to $7,500, and the work was begun under 
a Committee of the Board of Trustees, consisting 
ot R. Howard, Chairman; S. Fenby, H. Abbott, W. 
Crichton and Alex. L. Boggs. This committee was 
invested with full power, January 31st, 1850, to 
make the necesssary contracts, after review by the 
full Board. They were empowered to sell the pews 
in the new church, and if the sum realized was not 
sufficient to meet the contracts, were to sell a lot of 
ground on the western end of church lot, fronting on 
Baltimore street. 


156 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


On the 1st of March the congregation rented 
Temperance Hall, on Gay street, at an annual rental 
. of $300, and worshipped there while the new build- 
ing was being erected. 

It was with genuine grief many of the old mem- 
bers saw the destruction of the building which to 
them was almost an object of veneration, for around 
it clustered all the hallowed associations of the early 
history of the church, and there still lingered for 
them within her historic walls the fragrance of the 
presence and the harmonies of the voices of her 
great and eloquent preachers. In spite of some little 
opposition of this kind and the almost insurmount- 
able obstacle of the great cost, the new building was 
undertaken and completed, the congregation being 
permitted to occupy it in 1852 at a cost of upwards 
of $23,000. 

The following advertisements of the services in 
connection with the dedication of the New Church 
building was inserted in the Baltimore American for 
January roth, 1852: 

“The New Church of the Second Presbyterian 
congregation will be opened for Divine service on 
Sunday, the 11th inst. 

“Service in the morning by the pastor; in the af- 
ternoon at half-past 3 o’clock by Rev. Dr. Backus; 
and in the evening at half-past 7 o’clock by the Rev. 
Dr. Plummer. The pews will be offered for sale at 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 157 


public auction on Tuesday evening the 13th instant, 
in the church, commencing at 7 o’clock.” 

In the issue for the 12th of January appeared this 
account of the dedicatory services: 

“Dedication of the Second Presbyterian Church. 
This elegant church edifice, located at the corner of 
Baltimore and Lloyd streets, was on Sunday last, 
solemnly dedicated to the service of the Almighty in 
interesting and befitting services. In the morning 
the pastor of the church, Rev. Mr. Smith, preached 
an eloquent sermon from a portion of the 41st verse 
of the 6th chapter of 2d Chronicles; ‘Now, therefore 
arise, etc.’ The discourse was of a highly interest- 
ing character and elicited the deepest interest of the 
large assemblage present. In the afternoon the 
church was again crowded to listen to the Rev. Dr. 
Backus and likewise in the evening to Dr. Plum- 
mer.” 

Large accessions within the next few years amply 
justified the congregation in their undertaking the 
work, while to this day we have a beautiful and 
commodious house of worship. In the midst of all 
these struggles a mission school was founded, in 
1851, near the Penitentiary by some members of the 
church, chiefly sustained by the labors of Mr. D. F. 
Haynes, and after every encouragement by the Ses- 
sion, Breckinridge Chapel was built. This mission 
was very successfully conducted for a long time until 


15 8 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


merged, through the purchase of the property as a 
site for the new Penitentiary, into Hope Mission, 
now Reid Memorial, in October, 1892, when some 
forty scholars were turned over to that mission. 

The ladies of the congregation determining that 
the new church tower should have a bell, raised by 
piivate subscription the sum of $300 toward that ob- 
ject. The bell was put in place in the tower of the 
church under the supervision of the Building Com- 
mittee, and under a resolution of the Board at their 
meeting, February Ist, 1853, the ladies were thanked 
not only for this gift to the church, but also for 
their unwearied exertions in behalf of the church in 
the matter of the sinking fund. 

Early in this year a difference of opinion exist- 
ing between the Session and the Board of Trustees 
as to the ordering of collections on the Sabbath, and 
the appointment of salaried persons, a committee 
from the Board visited the Session by arrangement 
and made statement of their views upon the matter, 
which resulted in the following deliverance by the 
Session: That on the schedule of benevolent contri- 
butions passed among the members for their signa- 
tures, a column would be included for the church 
debt; that Session would assist in every way in its 
power toward the liquidation of that debt; that 
while it was the custom and express statute of the 
Presbyterian Church making it the duty of the Ses- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 159 


sion to appoint the chorister, yet, as he is to be paid 
his salary by the Trustees, it is just and equitable 
that the salary should not be fixed without the 
knowledge and consent of the Board. 

At a Congregational Meeting held November 
15th, 1854, active measures were taken to reduce. 
and, if possible, to pay off the floating debt of the 
church, amounting to $12,000. Large subscriptions 
_ were made by those present and preparations begun 
for an active canvass of the congregation. On April 
18th, 1855, by these efforts the debt had been reduced 
to a little over $8,000. This amount was almost 
entirely liquidated by a bequest from the late Samuel 
McDonald, son of General William McDonald, who 
left provisions in his will for the payment to the 
church of $5,000 in cash, the release of the mort- 
gage held by him upon the church property, amount- 
ing to $3,000, and the further sum of $500 to be 
invested for the benefit of the Sabbath School of the 
church. 

Mr. McDonald had passed away on the 11th of 
July, 1855, aged 67 years. He was at the time of his 
death the senior member of the Board of Trustees, 
and, although debarred, from long and severe ill- 
ness, from meeting with his associates on the Board, 
he offered them valuable counsel in their difficult 
task, and gave liberally of his means, and, in “imi- 
tation of his benevolent sire, bequeathed to the 


160 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


church the magnificent legacy referred to.” This be- 
quest enabled the Treasurer in his next report, De- 
cember 27th, 1855, to say that the state of the 
church’s finances were in a condition equal to many 
of our sister churches in this city; that the subscrip- 
ticns and bequest of Mr. McDonald had reduced 
the debt to about $2,000, and that against that we 
had $1,000 of subscriptions yet unpaid ; that the time 
had come of carrying into effect a long cherished de- 
sire to increase the pastor’s salary. This was agreed 
t> by the Board in the following resolutions : 

“WuereEas, Much of the prosperity of our church 
and the increase of our congregation is, under God. 
owing to the zeal, popularity and good works of our 
Pastor ; therefore, 

“Resolved, That the salary of Doctor Smith be 
increased to $2,000 per annum from the Ist of Janu- 
ary, 1856.” 

The debt was still further reduced by private 
subscriptions of over $1,300, raised at a congrega- 
tional meeting, held December 24th, 1856. 

Up to the year 1858 the Elders had been accus- 
tumed to “‘lift’’ the collections in the church, but that 
year this service was taken over by the Board of. 
Deacons, assisted by the Trustees, as more properly 
their function. 

In the year 1859 the foundation was laid for a 
Pastor’s Library for the Second Church by a legacy 


HENRY C. MINTON, D. D. 
PASTOR-ELECT 
SEPTEMBER 1883-AUGUST 1884 


y 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 161 


of $250, left by Ira B. Wheeler. Dr. Smith, the 
Treasurer Horace Abbott, and William Crichton, 
were appointed a Committee to invest the amount of 
the bequest. 

This year the congregation employed a colpor- 
teur, with what result we cannot ascertain. 

The Sabbath School requested Session, March 
6th, 1860, through George Dugdale and Mr. How- 
ell, to be allowed to introduce a melodeon into the 
school to assist in the singing. After some discus- 
sion and several postponements, the request was 
granted. 

June 5th, 1860, Dr. Smith announced to the Ses- 
sion his election by the General Assembly to be Pro- 
fessor of Church Government in Danville Seminary, 
Kentucky. After thoughtful consideration, it was 
the unanimous opinion of the Session that Dr. Smith 
could be most useful in promoting the interests of 
our beloved Zion by remaining in Baltimore, and 
that if not contrary to his own wishes in the prem- 
ises, he remain with us, he having the entire confi- 
dence and love of the whole congregation. 

Shortly after this meeting of Session and before 
any decision was arrived at Dr. Smith sailed for Eu- 
rope. Upon his return, at a meeting November 6th, 
1260, Dr. Smith informed Session that the call to 
Danville Seminary would be submitted to Presby- 
tery at its approaching meeting. Dr. Smith also in- 


162 .ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


formed Session that there was a movement on foot 
toward calling him to the Third Church of Balti- 
more, a new church in the Northwestern portion 
of the city, and that that day he had received a call 
from the Central Church of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

The claims of the church upon Dr. Smith’s pasto- 
ral services were fully presented in Presbytery, the 
congregation raising a strong protest against the 
separation, saying that, “in the opinion of the con- 
gregation, a serious and lasting injury would be 
done to the cause of Christ and His Church by 
the removal at this time of Dr. Smith from his pres- 
ent position. His commanding talents, his persuasive 
eloquence, his kind and gentle manners and his faith- 
fulness and devotion to his Master’s service, have 
won for him the regard, esteem and confidence of 
this entire community, and have enabled him by the 
blessing of God to gather around him in this place a 
faithful, active and growing church, one alive to all 
the duties of its position, and carrying on all the 
great benevolent operations of our church. 

“When we compare the condition of our church 
eleven years ago with what it is today, we acknowl- 
edge our debt of gratitude to the Great Head of the 
Church for sending us in our low estate such a 
Teacher and Pastor, whose labors have been so 
blessed among us. Appreciating as we do the faith- 
ful labors of Dr. Smith for the past eleven years in 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 163 


this congregation, if it was the wish of his heart to 
change the field of his future labors, on the convic- 
tion of his judgment that God clearly indicated to 
him that the path of duty led to this change, we 
would with sorrow acquiesce and give up to the ser- 
vice of the General Church another beloved pastor to 
follow in the steps of the lamented John Breckin- 
ridge.” 

Presbytery met on the 13th, 14th and 15th of 
November, but it was not until the last day that, 
after Dr. Smith had stated he had come to the de- 
cision it was his duty to go to Danville, Presbytery 
dissolved the pastoral relation. 

The Session spread upon the minute book their 
estimate of Dr. Smith in the following language: 

“Whereas, The General Assembly of our Church, 
at its annual session in May last, appointed our late 
pastor, the Rev. Dr. Smith, a professor in the Theo- 
logical Seminary at Danville, Ky., which appoint- 
ment has recently been accepted by him, and the pas- 
toral relations between him and our congregation ~ 
having been dissolved by the Presbytery of Balti- 
more; we, the Elders of the Second Presbyterian 
Church, on this, our first meeting as a Session since 
the departure of Dr. Smith, record this minute as 
an expression of our high opinion of him as a Pas- 
tor and a Minister of God; and of our gratitude for 
his long and faithful labors with us as our pastor. 


164 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


While our entire community recognizes his claims to 
their confidence and affection, and men of all de- 
nominations deeply regret his departure from our 
city, we who have been so intimately associated 
with him in the Session of the Church, feel that 
we have suffered no ordinary loss, and we shall ever 
bear in grateful remembrance his great kindness, 
gentleness and wisdom, as the Moderator of our 
Session, and the many sweet and, we hope, profitable 
hours we have passed together as Pastor and Elders. 
And with gratitude to the great Head of the Church, 
for permitting us for so many years to be thus inti- 
mately associated with so gifted and devoted a serv- 
ant and minister of the Lord Jesus, we tender to him 
the assurance of our unchanging affection, and our 
warmest wishes for his success and usefulness in his 
new field of labor to which he has been called by the 
united voice of the Church; and we feel assured 
that, although separated, we and the Church of 
which we are officers, will often be remembered by 
our late beloved pastor at the Throne of the Heav- 
enly Grace.” 

The Board of Trustees similarly expressed their 
sorrow at the separation and their high sense of the 
character and attainments of Dr Smith, both as a 
Pastor and Preacher. 

The congregation during the ministry of Dr. 
Smith had made a net gain of 102, making the mem- 
bership upon his departure 343. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 165 


Professor Smith had not been long in his new 
field when the war broke out and closed the Semi- 
nary. Upon a consolidation of the remnants of the 
extinct Third and Fifth Churches, together with a 
number of families of the Second Church, largely 
through the influence of Dr. J. C. Backus, pastor 
of the First Church, Dr. Smith was called to the pas- 
torate of the Central Church, and upon acceptance 
of the call, was installed pastor on the 16th of March, 
1862. In this field, with the abundant blessings of 
God, he labored until seventy-five years of age, re- 
signing the pastorate in 1893. The congregation 
elected him Pastor Emeritus, glad to remember his 
long and honorable and efficient labors in its behalf. 
Dr. Smith still walks among the churches of Balti- 
more Presbytery, like a Prophet Samuel among the 
Sons of the Prophets. His gray hairs are a crown 
of glory and his presence as the “dew unto Israel ;” 
his voice a benediction. May he long be spared to 
kindle our hearts with the enthusiasm of the past in 
the memory of the church’s great and noble leaders, 
who laid the foundations of the Presbyterian Church 
of today. 

Dr. Smith was Moderator of the General Assem- 
bly of 1887, received the degree of Doctor of Divin- 
ity from Hampden-Sydney College in 1852, and of 
Doctor of Laws from Jefferson College in 1887. 


CHAPTER XI. 
OUR “WAR-PASTOR,” GEORGE P. HAYS, D. D. 


Shortly after Dr. Smith left the pastorate of the 
Second Church the nation was plunged into the aw- 
tulness of the fratricidal war. Those were dark 
days for the Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. 
Sympathizers with both sides in the bloody contest 
were to be found in each congregation. The for- 
ward movement of the church was arrested and each 
congregation found itself in the “deadlock” of mu- 
tual suspicion and alienation and strife of the mem- 

-bers. It was just before the war broke out and this 

condition fully obtained that the congregation called 
Rev. George P. Hays, at a meeting held January 
23d, 1861, who received the vote of every mem- 
ber present, one hundred and thirty-six. The call 
was accepted and Mr. Hays installed pastor in 
March, 1861. 

On August 11th, 1861, a large congregation was 
delighted to hear their old pastor, Rev. Robert J. 
Breckinridge, who being upon a visit to the city, was 
invited to address his former charge. 

It is impossible for us to imagine the conditions 
affecting church life in Baltimore for the next five 
or six years. And that the pastor of the Second 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 167 


Church was an exceptional man is easily proved by 
a glance at the statistical reports of the church. Nor 
could it be said of him, as of many, that he had no 
opinion upon the questions which were rending our 
country. He was a man of strong convictions and of 
tried ability in defending them, but with such gra- 
ciousness and conciliation did he preach and labor 
that it was one long season of growth in grace to 
many. So noteworthy was the condition of the 
church in 1863 that the Session set forth the facts in 
a paper prepared to be read to the Presbytery, in 
which they say: “The Session in reviewing the 
goodness of God to them as a church for the past 
year have great cause for gratitude and thankful- 
ness in His keeping them and preserving them from 
dangers seen and unseen, from divisions and distrac- 
tions, for the forbearance and kindness that has been 
exercised one towards another in many things, in 
that charity which suffereth long and is kind.” 
Twenty-one were added to the church upon profes- 
sion of faith and thirteen upon certificates. During 
the winter Dr. Hays preached in the Maryland In- 
stitute in the afternoon of the Sabbath in lieu of the 
evening service in the church building, it being the 
hope that many non-churchgoers would thereby be 
reached. The success was not very marked. The 
number of scholars in the Sabbath Schools were re- 
ported to be four hundred and teachers forty. In 


168 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


addition, there were two large sewing schools for lit- 
tle girls maintained, the number of pupils being three 
hundred. 

One of the most notable achievements of this year 
was the release, June 27th, 1863, of the ground rent, 
which was purchased for $11,000, of which sum 
$10,000 was raised by subscriptions. This project, 
so happily consummated, originated in a meeting of 
Deacons after a church service one Sabbath the 
March previous. After earnest consultation with all 
the official members of the church, the Board of 
Trustees had printed a statement to the congregation 
setting forth the desirability of purchasing the 
ground rent and their prospects for doing so, with 
amount of pledges already made, and calling upon 
the congregation to assist, with the splendid result 
above noted. 

The morning the address was placed before the 
members of the congregation the Pastor preached 
a sermon from the text, “Go up to the mountain and 
bring wood and build the house and I will take pleas- 
ure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye 
looked for much, and lo! it came to little; and when 
ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith 
the Lord of Hosts. Because of mine house that is 
waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.” 
Haggai, 1: 8-9. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 169 


For one week and a half Dr. Hays canvassed the 
congregation to find at the expiration of that time 
they were $1,400 short of the $10,000 necessary. It 
was decided to lay the whole matter again before the 
congregation after the sermon. Here let me quote 
the report: “In accordance with this determination, 
the Pastor stated the position the effort had then 
reached after the sermon of that morning, when to 
the glory of God, be it said, the whole amount was 
finally secured. The good earnest of the congrega- 
tion was remarkably manifested on that occasion, 
for by far the greater part remained until the sub- 
scription was counted up, determined that if there 
had not been enough subscribed they would finish it 
before they left. When the fact was announced that 
all was guaranteed the Pastor led in a prayer of 
thanksgiving for the liberal hearts He had given His 
people.” 

The report adds: ‘Our success in this undertak- 
ing is due mainly to two things. The first is that 
very many of our people made it a special subject of 
prayer that God would pour out a spirit of liberality 
in our midst and enable us to give to this great cause. 
We believe it is a manifest answer to prayer. In 
the second place Dr. Backus, of the First Church, 
gave us one thousand dollars, which was not only 
valuable for the money, but also for its encourage- 
ment of the belief that success was possible.”’ 


170 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


In the year 1864 the question of installing an or- 
gan in the church was mooted in Session, and after 
provoking considerable discussion, was voted down. 
At a meeting of the congregation, held soon after, 
the Session was requested to reconsider their action, 
which they refused to do, and sent a long letter to 
the congregation in support of their position, with 
many arguments against the use of instrumental 
music in the public worship of God. However, great 
men sometimes change their opinions and church- 
courts, like our civil legislative bodies, reverse today 
what was done so decisively yesterday, so that Ses- 
sion, some two years later, October 8, 1866, ap- 
proved of “the project of putting an organ into the 
church,” for which we find the Board of Trustees 
arranging the payment June 17, 1867. The organ 
cost about $2,800. 

In the spring of the year 1865 the congregation 
enjoyed a reviving time from the presence of the 
Lord, so that extra services were held and an extra 
communion proposed. Twenty-five united with the 
church upon profession of their faith at one time. 
Neighborhood prayer-meetings were revived during 
the winter of 1866, with splendid results. 

April 13, 1867, Dr. Hays laid before his Session 
his call to be Financial Agent of Washington and 
Jefferson College, and his desire that a congrega- 
tional meeting be called to prosecute their desires in 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 171 


the matter before Presbytery. The congregation set 
forth their disapproval of the proposed resignation 
of Dr. Hays, saying that all the members of the 
congregation were harmonious in the desire that Dr. 
Hays should remain, believing his continuance as 
- their pastor to be of vital importance to the welfare 
of the church; that there is seldom an instance where 
there are stronger and more urgent reasons for the 
continuance of the pastoral relations; that they be- 
lieved the church and community offered an exten- 
sive field for usefulness, which imperiously demands 
his attention, and where, with the blessing of God, 
his labors may be crowned with a harvest of im- 
mortal souls.”’ 

The following resolution was also passed: “That 
in view of the great reluctance of the congregation to 
part with him, the interest manifested in his continu- 
ance with us by Christians of other denominations 
and the undesirableness of further agitations, this 
meeting express the earnest desire that Mr. Hays 
will decide to comply with our wishes without fur- 
ther consultation with Presbytery.” 

Dr. Hays must have decided to agree to this, for 
if was not until the fall of 1868 that his request for 
the dissolution of the pastoral relation was pressed 
before Presbytery, at which time the congre- 
gation, while fully appreciating the zeal and fidel- 
ity with which he had devoted himself to the 


172 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


spiritual welfare of the congregation, as also his re- 
markably successful efforts in relieving the formerly 
embarrassed financial situation of the church, and, 
while regretting the severance of so pleasant and 
fruitful a pastorate, had no desire to restrict his 
sphere of usefulness, if he should believe one to be 
open to him in which he could accomplish more in 
the dissemination of evangelical truth and where his 
efforts would result in increased prosperity to the 
Church of Christ.” 

In this spirit of acquiescense to what was believed 
to be the leading of the Holy Spirit, the congrega- 
tion parted from their pastor, who had led them in 
their troubled passage through perilous times, as 
Moses led Israel of old. The pastoral relation was 
then dissolved by the Presbytery. 

George Price Hays came from that sturdy 
Scotch-Irish stock which made Western Pennsylva- 
nia the stronghold of liberty, civil and ecclesiastical, 
and which has given so many sons to the ministry. 
He was born February 2d, 1838, near Canonsburg, 
Pa., in which the recent pastor of our church, Rev. 
R. Howard Taylor, has been settled over the Presby- 
terian Church. His parents’ names were John and 
Orpha. He graduated at Jefferson College and im- 
mediately entered the Western Theological Semi- 
nary, and upon completing his course in that institu- 
tion, was licensed to preach the Gospel by Pittsburg 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 173 


Presbytery, in April, 1859. He was chosen assist- 
ant pastor to the Rev. Dr. Painter, of Kittanning, 
Pa., and from there came to Baltimore as pastor of 
the Second Presbyterian Church. 

Dr. Hays became President of Washington and 
Jefferson College soon after leaving Baltimore. In 
nis new field of work that boundless enthusiasm for 
which he was so noted as a preacher and pastor, 
made him a most popular and aggressive college 
president, and did much to place the institution upon 
its present secure and honorable foundation. Too 
high a tribute cannot be paid to this “war pastor” 
of the Second Church. His was the mind to con- 
ceive and his the dauntless will to execute. No work 
was too hard, no sacrifice too great to check that 
great spirit. Faith there was, and hope and love— 
these three in him abounding, but the greatest of all 
was love—and pastor and people were knit together 
for one of the very best periods in the history of the 
Second Church during one of the very worst and 
most distracting periods in the history of our coun- 
try. 

This prophet of the Most High was called to his 
reward in the year 1897. 

In the year 1868 the church received a new , shine 
gle roof and was frescoed at an expense of $1,700. 
The roof remains unto this day, another monument 
to the thoroughness with which our fathers per- 
formed their tasks. 


174 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


On application from the Board of School Com- 
missioners the Board of Trustees rented “the lec- 
ture room of the church (basement) for the use of 
the school now being held in the Eastern Female 
High School (which was about to be rebuilt) “at an 
annual rental of $600 for a term of two years, more 
ur less.” 

The congregation was called together December 
23d, 1868, for the purpose of calling a pastor to suc- 
ceed Dr. Hays. The election resulted in the unani- 
mous choice of Rev. Samuel A. Mutchmore, of Phil- 
adelphia, at an annual salary of $2,500. Dr. Mutch- 
more requested the congregation not to prosecute the 
call before the Philadelphia Presbytery, as he did not 
see clearly that it was his duty to leave his congrega- 
tion at that time as they were in the midst of an in- 
teresting revival. To this request the congregation 
agreed. 


CHAPTER XII. 
THE CALL OF JONATHAN EDWARDS, D. D. 


March 2nd the congregation met to again elect a 
pastor, this time the choice falling upon the Rev. 
Dr. Jonathan Edwards, a relative and namesake of 
the distinguished Jonathan Edwards, of Massachu- 
setts. Dr. Edwards accepted the call at a salary of 
$2,500, and the parsonage. The installation service 
was held June 8th, 1869. The membership of the 
church when-Dr. Edwards assumed the pastorate 
was 279 and the number of Sabbath School scholars 
was 450. The year previous the congregation had 
raised for all purposes $6,969. 

- The Session and Board of Deacons revived this 
year the plan of systematic benevolence, formerly in 
successful operation, but of late allowed to become 
iaoperative. This resulted in the following action 
by the congregation at their meeting in June, 1870: 
“Each subscriber to the plan of raising funds for 
church and benevolent purposes agrees to make 
weekly contributions, and all funds so raised to pass 
into the hands of the Treasurer of this Board (the 
Board of Trustees), with the understanding that 
after the current expenses of the church have been 
paid and a sufficient amount reserved for repairs, the 


176 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


residue shall be turned over to the Elders and Dea- 
cons, to be devoted to charitable purposes.” 

April 4th, 1870, the Board of Trustees adopted a 
code of by-laws for the government of their deliber- 
ations. 

For some time the Board of Trustees had had 
under contemplation the probable opening of Broad- 
way through the Glendy burying ground and also 
the feasibility of leasing the remaining ground for 
the purpose of erecting thereon a Presbyterian 
Church. A committee to search the records to dis- 
cover the legal right of the Board to make such 
lease reported to the Board July 7th, 1870, that their 
title to the graveyard property differed in no respect 
from the titles to other church property. The Board 
then adopted the following resolutions: 1st, that 
the Committee on Property be authorized to confer 
with the Presbytery of Baltimore, or other parties, 
in reference to leasing the graveyard, for the pur- 
pose of erecting a Presbyterian Church thereon. 

“Resolved, 2nd, That the same committee be au- 
thorized to confer with the City Council of Balti- 
more in regard to the condemnation of so much of 
the graveyard as may be necessary to straighten 
Chase street.” 

The committee was also authorized to a 
counsel, if necessary. 


ALEXANDER PROUDFIT, D. D. 
NINTH PASTOR 
1885-1894 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 177 


According to this authorization the committee in- 
serted the following advertisement in the Baltimore 
American : 
For Lease. 

The Trustees of the Second Presbyterian Church 

will lease their 
BURYING GROUND, 

Corner of Broadway and Gay Sireet, 


To a Protestant Society to build a church thereon, 
te be forever kept and used as a church and burying 
lot only. There is sufficient surplus stone on the lot 
to build the walls of a large church, and about one- 
half of the lots are unoccupied. Application may 
be made to either of the undersigned, Committee on 
Church Property. 

E_ A. Apsott, Chatrman. 
Joun S. Gam an. 
R. THOMPSON. 


The following plan for union meetings for prayer 
was laid before Session, December 5th, 1870, by the 
pastor, Dr. Edwards, sayimg that the pastors of Ais- 
quith Street and Broadway had agreed with him to 
recommend it to their respective Sessions: 

Ist. That a joint monthly concert of prayer be 
held in the churches alternately. 

2d. That a joint communion of these churches be 
held once in each year. 


178 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


3d. That the Ruling Elders be recommended to 
meet once a month for prayer and conference.” 

It is impossible to learn whether this plan was 
ever put into operation, or, if it was, what result at- 
tended it. There can be no doubt as to the great 
pleasure and profit which would attend such meet- 
ings and we cannot refrain from expressing the 
wish that such practical measures for our greater 
spiritual unity and fraternity were more frequently 
carried into effect. A new Communion Service was 
purchased this year at a cost of $121.85. As the sale 
of the goblets and baskets of the old service had 
realized $136.71, the committee had a balance in 
hand. 

July 1st, 1871, Dr. Edwards communicated to 
Session his intention of asking leave of Presbytery 
to resign from the pastorate of the Second Church. 
The congregation was cited to appear before Pres- 
bytery to show cause why this request should not be 
granted. The congregation met August 31, 1871, 
agreeably to the call for the meeting, and commis- 
sioners were appointed to attend the meeting of 
Presbytery. The next day Presbytery met and dis- 
solved the pastoral relation. Dr. Edwards was soon 
afterward called to the pastorate of the First Pres- 
byterian Church of Peoria, Illinois, where he passed 
the remainder of his life. Having been President of 
Washington and Jefferson College before coming to 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 179 


Baltimore, he had already attained to some promi- 
nence as a thinker and educator. His pulpit dis- 
courses were above the average in originality and 
profundity. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


ANOTHER MAN FROM PENNSYLVANIA, 
ROBERT H. FULTON. 


February 5th, 1872, the congregation met and 
elected unanimously Rev. Robert H. Fulton to be 
their pastor. This call was accepted and Mr. Fulton, 
being received by the Presbytery, began his pastoral 
work. 

Born in Monongahela City, Mr. Fulton had the 
same birthright that gave the promise of a fine char- 
acter and consistent Christian conduct, which had 
matured so perfectly in Rev. Dr. Hays. Nor was the 
congregation disappointed. Mr. Fulton was a mem- 
ber of the first class to graduate from the combined 
Colleges of Washington and Jefferson. This was in 
1866. He entered the Western Theological Semi- 
nary as a student the following fall. He was li- 
censed to preach the Gospel in 1871, so that he came 
to our congregation very early in his ministry. May 
Ist, 1872, Mr. Fulton began his ministerial labors, 
which were abundantly blessed of the Lord to the 
spiritual edification of the people. 

As the church building was now twenty years old, 
it was found necessary to make repairs aggregating 
$2,500, which included our present stained-glass 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 181 


windows, replacing the “white-frosted panes,” which 
a writer said, “produced a beautiful effect.” 

For the purpose of raising the necessary funds for 
the church and more perfectly to organize the en- 
velope system, the congregation, June 19th, 1872, 
elected a Finance Committee, representative of the 
various interests of the congregation, upon which 
also were a number of ladies. This committee did 
excellent service, 

The question of the selling of the Breckinridge 
Mission property was introduced October, 1872, at 
a meeting of the Board of Trustees, on the score of 
the cost of maintenance, which some of the Board 
felt unwilling to bear. The sale was strenuously op- 
posed by the friends of the school, who agreed to pay 
the ground rent to save it from being closed. In 
July, 1873, a sub-lease on part of the ground was 
made on order of the Board, the revenue from which 
left only about ten dollars for the school to pay. 
This arrangement saved the life of the school for 
another twenty years, at which time, July 14th, 
1892, it was reported to the Board that Mr. Robert 
H. Smith, acting as their attorney by appointment, 
had sold the property to the state for $3,250, the 
state desiring to erect the new Penitentiary upon 
the site, 

As the Breckinridge Mission had now no home, 
the project was abandoned, the scholars, as already 


182 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


stated, were turned over to Hope Institute, and the 
receipts from the sale of the property were held by 
the Board as a fund upon which to draw from time 
to time, for permanent improvements to the church 
property. 

In the year 1873 our present method of emphasiz- 
ing the benevolent objects for which contributions 
are asked of the congregation was introduced. Pre- 
vious to that time the offering was received without 
stating the object for which it was intended, nor 
how the amount was to be divided. 

Another interesting question came before the con- 
gregation March, of this year, namely, whether to 
elect the elders for a term of years or for life. The 
arguments of the conservative members prevailed. 
No doubt this matter was agitated at this time be- 
cause it had received some attention from the prev- 
ious General Assembly. 

The fiscal year was changed at this same meeting 
so as to begin on the 1st of April, instead of the Ist 
of July, as heretofore. This change was made that 
our fiscal year might correspond with that of the 
different boards of the church. 

Much attention had already been exacted of the 
Board of Trustees and constant and irritating ex- 
penses incurred by the Glendy burying ground, 
which at one time was the finest in the city, but 
which had by the development of other and more 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 183 


public cemeteries, become practically abandoned so 
far as its original purpose was concerned. There 
was no income; there was, on the other hand, a con- 
stant outlay. To aggravate this situation the cemetery 
became the rendezvous of the criminal and maraud- 
ing classes of that section of the city, who openly 
broke into vaults and robbed the very coffins of the 
dead, and this sacred spot was given over to utter 
desolation and wanton destruction. This condition of 
affairs was owing to the fact that the cemetery was 
just upon the outskirts of the city, which was rapidly 
pushing beyond it. There was not the protection 
necessary from the mischievous boys and men which 
there should have been. The vandalism was some- 
what stopped by the rebuilding of the eastern wall, 
which had partially fallen down. 

The question of opening Broadway, which had 
been improved up to the southern wall of the ceme- 
tery, was one of time only. This avenue would cut 
off more than one-third of the ground; Chase street 
extended would obliterate a small part, while Biddle 
street run through would make in all nearly one-half 
the ground pre-empted. As the balance would be 
too small for cemetery purposes, and was, as well, 
inside the growing city, the Board of Trustees de- 
termined upon some course which would be at once 
an improvement to that section of the city, and at the 
same time provide a place of worship for the resi- 


184 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


dents, while permanently preserving the resting 
places of illustrious dead from demolition. 

A canvass of the lot-holders and of the residents 
in the vicinity of the cemetery revealed a unanimity 
of sentiment in favor of building a church upon such 
portion of the property as would not be taken for the 
contemplated city improvements. This movement 
on the part of the Board was publicly and strenu- 
ously opposed by a small minority of the lot-holders, 
who held a meeting to devise a way, if possible, of 
dispossessing the Trustees of the Second Church 
from their trust, charging them with dereliction of 
duty and mercenary motives and intentions. Suit 
was entered to dispossess the Board, that the prop- 
erty might be turned over to the complainants. It 
appears from the vigorous and sufficient answer 
which was made to this “minority meeting” that 
the Board of Trustees had agreed to lease to some 
“properly organized and legally chartered company, 
ali that portion of the ground lying west of the 
westernmost line of Broadway, for the purpose of 
building a church thereon, and burying the dead 
only—the company obligating themselves to keep the 
wall or fence in good order, paying for the lease ten 
dollars per annum for ninety-nine years, renewable, 
the Trustees reserving the vacant lots in which to 
deposit the dead now lying in the bed of Broadway. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 185 


“Broadway must soon be opened and the Trustees 
are desirous that everything in relation to the sub- 
ject should be done in a reputable and business-like 
manner. The Presbytery has moved in the matter 
so far as to appoint a committee to investigate the 
whole subject with a view to accept the offer of the 
Trustees, with the Rev. George Morrison as their 
Chairman, from whom any information may be ob- 
tained in regard to the proceedings of his commit- 
tee or the Trustees.” 

In the fall of 1874, City Councils condemned the 
ground for the opening of Broadway, but upon the 
next day rescinded this action upon the complaint of 
certain lot-holders holding lots in fee-simple, being 
established prior to the preparation of Poppleton’s 
map of the city. The city then condemned the 
ground to the north of the cemetery and proceeded 
to open Broadway from that point, leaving the ceme- 
tery as it was. Early in the year 1875 the negotia- 
tions with the Presbyterian Association were 
brought to a successful issue and the Board of Trus- 
tees vacated their trust in the Glendy burying ground 
to “the Presbyterian Association of Baltimore” upon 
their guarantee that such sum of money as should be 
awarded as damages for the opening of Broadway 
and Biddle street, and the cutting off of the project- 
ing corner of Chase street, should be appropriated to 
the transfer of the bodies lying in ground thus 


186 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


condemned. Any excess of money to be applied to 
the erection of a church building upon the premises. 

The Church Property Committee who had had 
the burden of this negotiation and had borne not a 
little abuse from disappointed lot-holders, announced 
to the next meeting of the Board, July 6th, 1875, 
the settlement of the business, and expressed their 
thankfulness. 

All the matters of trust in the original deed hav- 
ing been satisfied and the reservations no longer be- 
ing of any value, upon application, the Board of 
Trustees authorized the execution of a deed, convey- 
ing to the Presbyterian Association of the City of 
Baltimore, an absolute fee-simple estate, free from 
all trust reservations and conditions, in and for the 
property which is fully described in the deed bearing 
date June roth, 1875, and duly recorded. 

This quit-claim deed was executed in the interest 
of Faith Presbyterian Church, which was the result 
of the determination of the Trustees to preserve the 
old historic ground for the purpose. Its fine edi- 
fice, its growing congregation and efficient service 
for Christ in the spread of the Gospel in that com- 
munity, amply justifies the action taken. 

There is preserved also so much of the burial 
ground and its former “glory” as to remind us con- 
tinually of the time when equally with Westminster 
burying ground, the city’s illustrious dead were car- 
ried thither for burial. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 187 


First in the long roll must be Dr. John Glendy, 
first pastor of our church, who was buried beside his 
wife amid the mourning of a vast concourse of peo- 
ple. Then next, that illustrious patriot soldier, Gen- 
eral William McDonald, who, with his but little less 
eminent son, Samuel, lies in the family vault just to 
the left of the main entrance. In times of peace as 
successful as in times of war, he amassed a large for- 
tune in the establishment of a line of packets to ports 
on the Chesapeake, afterwards a steamboat line, and 
then absorbed and operated by the Philadelphia, Wil- 
mington and Baltimore Railroad Company. 

Not far from the McDonald vault lay the remains 
of Alexander Brown, founder of the banking firm 
of A. Brown & Sons. The body was subsequently 
removed to Greenmount cemetery. The old coun- 
try seat of the Brown’s lay just north of the ceme- 
tery, the mansion standing upon what is now the bed 
of Broadway. William Crawford and Robert 
Moore, merchants of renown in their day; James 
Beatty, the powder manufacturer ; Henry Anderson, 
who had come over in the vessel with Glendy; John 
Hollins, father of ex-Mayor Hollins; James Law, 
father of ex-Maybor Colonel James O. Law; George 
Stiles, Mayor of Baltimore in 1817; Dr. John Camp- 
bell Whyte, grandfather of William Pinkney Whyte, 
and Judge Campbell Whyte Pinkney, are all buried 
there. Of the “Old Defenders” not a few are rest- 


188 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


ing in.““Old Glendy ;’ George W. Miller, who served 
under Major Armstead during the bombardment of 
Fort McHenry; John Jephenson, wounded at the 
Battle of North Point; Captain John Kennedy, who 
commanded the Twenty-seventh Regiment of Mary- 
land Militiaat North Point; Oliver H. Nelson, whose 
monument was erected bythe Independent Volunteers 
to “their estimable commander, as a testimony of 
their regard to his virtues;’ John Cross, a soldier of 
the Revolutionary War, and who gave three sons to 
the service of his country in the war of 1812. Of “old 
sea captains” the list is long, from which we select; 
Captain Thorndyke Chase, who owned Chase’s 
Wharf; Captain Arch. Kerr, owner of Kerr’s 


Wharf; Captain Baptist Messick, owner of Messick’s 
Wharf; Captain James Gibson, owner of Gibson’s 


Wharf; Captains Thomas Cole, Russell Kilbourne, 
George Hobson, T. Gardner, George F. de Laroche, 
David Burke, William Conkling. 

Drs. William H. and Alexander Clendenin, John 
Coulter, J. B. Stansbury, Andrew Aitken, Captain 
Herman Perry, father of Herman and Albert Perry, 
connected with A. Brown & Sons; George Dobbin, 
one of the founders of newspaper journalism in Bal- 
timore. 

Here, then, were buried the men who had risked 
their all in the future of our city. They had in- 
vested their capital and upon necessity were willing 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 189 


to sacrifice their lives. And whether they walked 
Olif streets as merchants, or looked into the mouths 
of frowning guns from behind our city’s defenses, 
or trod the deck of those fast vessels which made the 
“Baltimore clipper” famous the world over, or in 
municipal or state affairs, exercised authority, these 
men were princes among men, and theit names were 
household words in their day. Who, when the 
mourners stood about the open graves of these prec- 
ious dead, could have prophesied or devised across 
the intervening years a more fitting sequel to the in- 
evitable encroachments of the city, than that there 
should stand, guardian of their dust, the splendid 
place of worship where now the living generation 
praises God. Life reigns, not death. The Son of 
God hath abolished death by His own death upon the 
cross. Better, nor more fitting monument to the liv- 
ing memories of these men, could not be conceived. 

The year 1874 resulted in large effort for the 
spiritual reviving of the congregation. A catecheti- 
€al class was started by the pastor among the children 
of the congregation, meeting once a month on Sab- 
bath afternoon, in which Mr. Fulton had the assist- 
ance of members of the Session. The attendance 
upon public worship increased and the contributions 
were materially enlarged, while many were turned to 
seek the Savior. The total number of communicants 
were 259, the contributions to Home Missions $949 


190 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


and to Foreign Missions $1,081. The total resources 
and expenditures for the year footing up $10,390. 
In recognition of his successful labors, the congrega- 
tion increased their pastor’s salary $500. 

November 8th, 1875, the pastor reported to Ses- 
sion that he had organized a Sabbath School Teach- 
ers’ Class for the study of the Sabbath School lesson, 
under his personal instruction. The chapel, which 
at that time adjoined the church, was refitted and 
thereafter used for the prayer-meetings, being first 
occupied by the congregation morning and evening 
during the week of prayer, beginning January 3d, 
1876. The meetings following the week of prayer 
proved to be of such unusual interest that they were 
continued a considerable time. 

A circular letter was prepared by the pastor by 
order of the Session, and distributed to the members 
of the congregation. This letter reviewed the facts 
about the Sabbath contributions and laid down the 
Scriptural principles relative thereto. The “envelope 
system” is thus presented. “It has stood a trial among 
_ us of six years, and we are convinced that it is alto- 
gether the most satisfactory method with which we 
are acquainted. Its merits are obvious. In it the 
poor and the rich can meet together. It works in 
quiet. It offers no temptation to ostentatious giv- 
ing. It affords the treasury a regular and constant 
supply. By distributing the burden into equal Sab- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Ig! 


bath portions, it is at no time oppressive, and it has 
resulted always in large aggregate collections.” Then 
followed a comparative table, “proving,” as the letter 
adds, “that what we need is not less of our present 
system, but more of it. Our whole people should 
give this way.” 

November, 1878, marked another of those deter- 
mined, enthusiastic and successful efforts to free the 
church from the burden of debt. The congregation 
carried unanimously and with a rising vote the mo- 
tion to take steps to pay off the debt. The questions 
ot “how” and “‘when” were answered in the forma- 
tion of the following subscription paper: “We, the 
undersigned, uniting in a congregational effort to 
pay off the debt of the Second Presbyterian Church 
of Baltimore, agree to take the number of shares set 
opposite our names, respectively (the amount of the 
debt had been divided into 8,000 shares at 50 cents 
each), with the understanding that our subscription 
shall not be demanded before the whole amount of 
said debt shall have been provided for, the money 
to be paid before the 1st day of January, 1879.” 

That very night over 5,000 shares were taken and 
2 goodly sum in cash handed in. 

The year 1879 was marked by the accession of 58 
members on profession of their faith in Jesus Christ, 
making the total number of communicants that year 
347. There were in the Sabbath School 559 scholars. 


192 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


The year 1881 saw the passing of the old pulpit, 
inconvenient and obsolete, and the erection of our 
present platform and pulpit, which we still admire. 
On the 26th of September, 1881, the congregation 
united with the Aisquith Street Church and engaged 
in solemn services in commemoration of our assassi- 
nated President, General James A. Garfield. 


ROBERT HOWARD TAYLOR 
TENTH PASTOR 
1894-1901 


CHAPTER XIV. 
AN EFFORT TOWARD UNION. 


There was inaugurated this same year a movement 
which was the beginning of negotiations having far- 
reaching effects upon the congregation’s future. We 
refer to the planning to erect a new Sabbath School 
building. At the congregational meeting of Janu- 
ary 12, 1881, the following named gentlemen, 
Messrs. Peter Thompson, D. D. Mallory, F. L. Shep- 
herd, Robert H. Smith and J. B. Small were ap- 
pointed a committee to collect funds for the building 
of a Sabbath School. It was then proposed to build 
ii upon the vacant lot and embrace the lecture room. 
It was argued that cheerfulness and brightness and 
comfort would tend to greatly increase the numbers 
of the school. On April 4th following, Mr. Small 
reported to the Board a subscription list toward 
this object of $5,500, ‘“‘with others to hear from.” 
The Board immediately appointed a Committee con- 
sisting of Messrs. Mallory, Thompson and Small, 
of the Board of Trustees, and Messrs. Smith and 
Yeisley, of the congregation and Sabbath School, to 
have plans prepared and receive specifications and 
obtain estimates for the building of a Sabbath School 
room and parsonage. Very early in these negotia- 


194 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


tions the feasibility of a change of location for the 
Second Church came to be discussed. It was thought 
by many that our present location was unfavorable 
for future growth, owing to the rapid change in the 
character of the surrounding community, and that 
if a change was to be made it would be much better 
to make it before the expenditure of such a sum of 
money as was contemplated in the proposed improve- 
ments. Accordingly, at its meeting on April 1oth, 
1882, the Board decided ‘that it is the sense of the 
Board of Trustees that they are prepared to sell the 
present church property.” The Moderator was in- 
structed to call a congregational meeting to take ac- 
tion. ss 

When the congregation convened, April 19th fol- 
lowing, the Moderator stated the object of the meet- 
ing to be “to see if our congregation was ready to 
make a change of location or not.” It was decided 
that two-thirds of all votes cast would be necessary 
te decide. 

The following resolution was then submitted : 

‘\WHEREAS, The matter of a removal of this 
church to a location eastward of its present site has 
been submitted to this congregation; 

“Resolved, That this congregation approve of the 
change proposed, and that the Board of Trustees 
be and is hereby authorized whenever in its judg- 
ment it may appear expedient, to dispose of the pres- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 195 


ent church property, and to apply the proceeds to the 
erection of a new church building in a favorable lo- 
cation eastward.” 

The ballots when counted read: 


For the Resolution........ 58 votes 
Against the Resolution. ...48 votes 


So that the resolution was lost. It was felt, how- 
ever, by the friends of the movement, that the voice 
of the entire congregation had not been heard. But 
not until January 3rd of the following year was the 
matter presented again. At this meeting the Mod- 
erator, Mr. Fulton, after stating the object of the 
meeting, gave “a fair and plain statement of the rea- 
sons, for and against the change, also a statement of 
the result of the trial ballots sent out by the Joint 
Committee of the Session and Trustees,” showing a 
two-thirds majority of the votes favoring the re- 
moval, and that this was why the meeting was called. 
A majority of the votes cast was to decide. The 
result showed: In favor of removal, 68; against re- 
moval, 36. The vote to change location was then 
made unanimous. 

When it became known to the congregation that 
the Broadway Presbyterian Church was at the same 
time contemplating a change of location, which 
would, if the Second Church should build further 
East, bring the two churches into very close prox- 


196 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


imity, the Session and Board of Trustees in joint 
session prepared and adopted the following paper, 
January 30th, 1883: 

“WHEREAS, The congregation of the Second 
Presbyterian Church, after careful deliberation, has 
authorized the Board of Trustees to sell the prop- 
erty corner Baltimore and Lloyd streets, with a view 
to a new building in a more eligible location; and, 

“WHEREAS, This action was prompted by a desire 
to promote Presbyterianism, present and future, and 
with no desire whatever of injuring or interfering 
with the property of any other church of Christ; and, 

“WHEREAS, It has been reported to us that the 
Broadway Presbyterian Church, corner South 
Broadway and Gough streets, has been looking to- 
ward a removal to the neighborhood in which our 
congregation is desirous of building; and, 

“WHEREAS, The erection of two churches of the 
same faith in one and the same field might not result 
in the success of both and in the greatest good to 
the general cause; therefore, 

“Resolved, (1) That the following Committee, 
consisting of Elders Jacob Yeisley and Thomas G. 
Doyle; Trustees, Peter Thompson, D. D. Mallory 
and John W. Bay be appointed to confer with the 
Session and Trustees of the Broadway Presbyterian 
Church, in the hope of reconciling conflicting inter- 
ests; 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 197 


“Resolved, (2) That said Committee is hereby au- 
thorized to assure said officers of the Broadway 
Church of our fraternal regard, of our aim to pro- 
mote the common cause, and, if to that end it should 
be thought good for the Broadway and the Second 
Presbyterian Churches to unite in one organiza- 
tion and erect one new building in the neighborhood 
contemplated, to encourage any basis of union which 
might appear equitable and feasible.” 

On February 20th, 1883, the following communi- 
cation was received from the Session of Broadway 
Presbyterian Church: 

“To the Session and Trustees of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church of Baltimore: 

DEAR BRETHREN.—The resolutions passed at 
your meeting of January 30th were duly laid before 
us, the Session and Trustees of the Broadway Pres- 
byterian Church. We heartily reciprocate your de- 
sire to reconcile conflicting interests between our 
congregations: ; 

“After maturely considering your communication, 
we respectfully reply, that, inasmuch as your action 
and proposals involve the interests of our denomina- 
tions in a large and important part of our city, and 
may imperil advantages that have been the growth 
of about eighty years in the case of the Second 
Church and almost half as long in the Broadway 
Church, we are unwilling to assume any responsi- 
bility in relation to the proposed movement. 


198 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


“We, therefore, most respectfully propose for 
counsel and advice, to refer the whole matter to the 
Presbytery, to which body, in our view, pertains the 
right to unite or divide congregations, at the re- 
quest of the people, or to form or receive new con- 
gregations, and in general to order whatever pertains 
to the spiritual welfare of the churches under their 
care. (Form of Gov. X.: viii.) 

“We can answer no further until after the whole 
matter has been submitted to Presbytery at its next 
stated meeting in order that we may be advised of 
proper action in the case.” 

The following reply was then adopted by our Ses- 
sion and the Trustees, and forwarded, February 
2oth, 1883: 

To the Session and Trustees of the Broadway Pres- 
byterian Church of Baltimore: 

“DEAR BRETHREN.—Your communication of the 
6th inst., having been considered, we respectfully an- 
swer: 

“That the paper adopted at our meeting of the 
3oth of January has fully acquainted you with our 
desires. Our people consenting (See Form of Gov. 
X., viii.), we should be happy to unite with you 
and your people in a request to have our respective 
congregations consolidated. 

“Tn the absence, however, of an expressed desire 
for union on the part of both the congregations in- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. I99 


terested, we are not aware of any business which re- 
quires joint action to bring before Presbytery.” 

This answer was forwarded to the Session and 
Trustees of the Broadway Church. 

In the meantime active measures were taken in the 
negotiations for the sale of the old property and the 
securing an option upon an available site for a new 
building. The subscriptions toward the new church 
now amounted to $7,000, with a prospect of its 
shortly amounting to $10,000. 

September, 1882, the Session decided to introduce 
the singing of the Long Meter Doxology at the be- 
ginning of the service, if the pastor so desired. 

May 3d, 1883, the pastor announced to the Session 
his having received a call to become the pastor of the 
Northminster Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, 
and “that there were such providential circumstances 
as made him believe he ought to accept it.’ He 
asked that a congregational meeting be called to con- 
sider the matter. The congregation convened May 
16th, 1883, Rev. J. C. Backus, Moderated the meet- 
ing, and stated its object, after which Mr. Fulton 
gave his reasons for desiring the congregation to ac- 
quiesce in the request to the Presbytery asking for a 
dissolution of the pastoral relation. After remarks 
by a number expressive of the warm affection of the 
members for Mr. Fulton, it was moved: 


200 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


“That the congregation consent to the dissolu- 
tion of the pastoral relation.” 

Suitable resolutions were drawn up by a commit- 
tee appointed by the meeting, in which in the heart- 
iest terms, the esteem in which Mr. Fulton was held 
by every member of the church, was set forth. June 
3rd, 1883, Mr. Fulton preached his farewell sermon 
and declared the pulpit vacant. 

Robert H. Fulton was a uniformly successful pas- 
tor, whom everybody loved. He aimed to teach his 
people rather than preach at them. His sermons, 
while not lacking in oratorical ability, yet never made 
that an end in itself. The opening up of Scripture 
and the incitement of his hearers to lay hold of and 
appropriate the truth was the end sought. He was 
most faithful as a pastor, and expended liberally his 
bodily and mental powers in the behalf of his people. 
The congregation enjoyed an almost uninterrupted 
reviving under his ministry, and gained steadily in 
numbers and Christian zeal. 

Mr. Fulton died while still the pastor of North- 
minster Church, Philadelphia, in the year 1897. 

The following September the congregation elected 
unanimously the Rev. Henry C. Minton to be their 
pastor, at a salary of $2,400 per annum. Mr. Min- 
ton began pastoral work Sabbath, the 9th of De- 
cember, and his installation was arranged for the 
evening of April 24th following. Much to the dis- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 201 


may of the congregation, the installation services 
were, owing to the ill-health of the pastor-elect, nec- 
essarily postponed. At the meeting of Session, May 
8th, 1884, Mr. Minton stated that his physician had 
recommended him to desist from study and active 
pastoral work for some months to come. The Ses- 
sion immediately made arrangements for supplying 
the pulpit until Mr. Minton should recover his 
health. The following July the Session was infor- 
mally called together after the Sabbath morning ser- 
vice and informed by Mr. Minton that his health 
was still such as to prevent his doing the pastoral 
work needed, and, therefore, he would withdraw 
from the position of pastor-elect. It was then agreed 
that his services should terminate with the Ist of 
August following. After leaving Baltimore Mr. 
Minton sought health and found it upon the Pacific 
Coast, where his strong personality and finely cul- 
tured mind soon won him a large place in the affairs 
of a rapidly growing church and state. Being a pro- 
fessor in the Theological Seminary at Berkeley, Cali- 
fornia, and pastor of a large Presbyterian congre- 
gation, made him, in 1901, the most logical and the 
strongest candidate from the great West for the 
highest honors of the Church, the Moderatorship 
of the General Assembly. With good judgment, 
that never failed; with courtesy, that never faltered, 
and with devotion to duty that never flagged, Dr. 


202 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Minton served the Church in the Moderator’s chair. 
Since then he has served as Chairman of the Assem- 
bly’s Committee on the Revision of the Confession 
of Faith. 

Dr. Minton has but recently removed from Cali- 
fornia to assume the pastorate of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Trenton, N. J. 

When Mr. Minton was elected pastor of the Sec- 
ond Church, it seemed certain that the congregation 
would remove from their present location, and his 
acceptance of the Call was with that understanding; 
to this end also negotiations had gone so far as to 
secure an option on a fine piece of property situated 
on Broadway just north of Baltimore street. It 
soon developed, according to resolutions passed in 
Session April 11th, 1884, that a satisfactory price 
could not be secured for the old property, and that 
there was a fear that the erection of a new building 
would involve the congregation deeply in debt. Ac- 
cordingly, the Board of Trustees decided not to sell 
the old property, but to erect the new Sabbath School 
building formerly contemplated, and to repair the 
church building thoroughly. This decision was the 
more easily arrived at because Mr. Minton had him- 
self regarded as hopeful the present feelings of har- 
mony and enthusiasm respecting the work upon the 
old ground; and, not desiring to endanger the inter- 
ests of the church by reconsidering and declining 


a 
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 203 


the call to its pastorate, early in the spring had sub- 
mitted the question of his installation to the de- 
cision of the Session. 

The new Sabbath School building was then 
erected, occupying the site of the parsonage, which 
had stood for so many years, and also of the old 
chapel. Messrs. F. L. Shepherd, George L. Krebs 
and Jacob Oster were appointed a Building Commit- 
tee, with full power to act in the carrying out of the 
plans of the Board of Trustees. The contract was 
for $8,000. The committee also had charge of need- 
ed repairs to the main church building. The new 
Sabbath School building was completed and occu- 
pied about the beginning of the New Year, and the 
Building Committee at the meeting of the Board, 
February 3rd, 1885, was discharged, with the thanks 
of the Board, “for their excellent service.” The 
total cost of building and repairs was upward of 
$10,000. The church was now in possession of a 
splendid equipment for her work and a thoroughly 
united and harmonious congregation, with renewed 
zeal and energy, appreciating its opportunity, cheer- 
fully assuming responsibility for the spread of the 
Gospel in the old community, has steadily increased 
in efficiency until this day. 

A beautiful set of pulpit furniture was presented 
to the church by Mrs. J. C. Luddington in memory of 
her husband, Jesse C. Luddington, who had been 


204 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


elected to the eldership in the Second Church, but 
though accepting the office, had passed away to his 
eternal rest before the ordination. 

Soon after entering the new school building the 
time of holding the Session was changed from the 
afternoon to the morning. The report of the School 
Committee showed the school to be in a flourishing 
condition. 


CHAPTER XV. 
AN ERA OF ORGANIZATION ; ALEX. PROUDFIT, D. D. 


The congregation ever since the resignation of 
Mr. Minton had been taking active steps toward the 
securing of a pastor, and on April Ist, 1885, met and 
elected unanimously Rev. Alexander Proudfit to be 
their pastor at an annual salary of $2,400. Mr. 
Proudfit, preaching in the church April 12th, an- 
nounced to the congregation his acceptance of the 
call. He was installed pastor by the Presbytery the 
following May. Rev. Alexander Proudfit was born in 
New York City April 15th, 1839. His father was 
Rev. John Wm. Proudfit, D. D. After graduating 
from Rutgers College, he entered the Seminary con- 
nected ‘with that institution to study theology. He 
completed his theological course at Princeton Semi- 
nary and was ordained an Evangelist by the Pres- 
bytery of New York in September, 1862. Mr. 
Proudfit proceeded immediately for the seat of war 
and was at first engaged in the work of the Sanitary 
Commission, afterwards receiving from President 
Lincoln an appointment as chaplain in the hospital 
service of the regular army, in which he served till 
the close of the war. A letter written to a classmate, 


206 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Rev. Francis B. Hodge, gives some interesting facts 
of his early history: 
LovELL GENERAL Hospirat, U. S. A. 
Portsmouth Grove, R. I. 
March 22d, 1865. 


DeAR CLASSMATE.—Your circular did not reach 
me till the second week in March, but hoping that it 
is not now too late, I comply with your request. On 
leaving the Seminary in 1862, I went immediately 
into the Hospital Transport Service under the Sani- 
tary Commission. On the 7th of June following I 
was sent to Newport News, Va., as Volunteer Chap- 
lain, with the expectation of a government appoint- 
ment. I labored there till the end of July, when I 
was taken severely ill and forced to come to the 
North. I was ordained by the First Presbytery of 
New York City early in September and was commis- 
sioned Hospital Chaplain in the United States Army 
September 15th, and ordered to this hospital for 
duty. 

The Lord has most graciously owned my unwor- 
thy labors in His vineyard by granting me to see 
the result in the conversion of many souls to Him- 
self, the upbuilding of His people and the reclama- 
tion of many, who had wandered from the fold.” 

After leaving the army at the close of the war, 
Mr. Proudfit made a tour of Europe. Upon his re- 
turn he was invited to preach in the Presbyterian 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 207 


Church of Clayton, N. J., a small congregation 
struggling for existence. He was installed the first 
pastor of this little church November Ist, 1866. 

For twelve years, with unwearying labors, he min- 
istered to this congregation, and when called, in 
1878, to the Hackettstown Church, left them strong 
and vigorous. He remained in Hackettstown for 
seven years, where the same unremitting labors 
weakened his magnificent constitution, and he was 
compelled to take a rest. It was upon the resump- 
tion of active work that he received his call to the 
Second Presbyterian Church, and he began his labors 
here. 

In 1885 the Finance Committee of the Board of 
Trustees prepared a circular to the congregation 
setting forth the amount of money needed to meet 
the running expenses of the congregation and the 
probable revenue, and urging each member to a more 
liberal contribution systematically given, that there 
might be no deficit at the close of the year. 

A card was enclosed to be signed by the contribu- 
tor, upon which was to be placed also the amount 
pledged. The congregation responded nobly to this 
plea of the Board. 

February 19th, 1886, Session decided that in fu- 
ture only unfermented wine should be used upon 


- Sacramental occasions. 


208 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


In their voluminous narrative to Presbytery for 
this year, Session reports a spirit of revival in the 
congregation, as a result of which thirty-six were 
added to the membership upon profession of their 
faith in Christ. This was not the result of special 
services, but of faithful preaching and pastoral 
work. 

During this year a Committee of Session canvass- 
ed the growing neighborhood to the Northeast with 
a view of beginning mission work, but for some rea- 
son the project was abandoned. 

In 1888, Dr. Proudfit printed a small pamphlet en- 
titled “Gathering Up the Fragments,” a study of 
three years’ work—May, 1885, to May, 1888—from 
which we cull much information concerning the work 
of the church in those first years of his pastorate. 

One of the organizations of the church which had 
its beginning within this time was the Young Peo- 
ple’s Society of Christian Endeavor. On the second 
Sabbath after his installation Dr. Proudfit preached 
on the subject of “Finding and Bringing” (Jno. 1: 
41, 43), and invited the young people to meet him in 
the chapel at the close of the service. Fifty-two per- 
sons responded and resolved to organize a Christian 
Endeavor Society. The organization was effected the 
following Wednesday evening, May 2oth, 1885, by 
the adoption of a constitution and the election of 
officers. Forty-one names were enrolled at the or- . 


THOMAS HOLMES WALKER 
PRESENT PASTOR 
INSTALLED OCTOBER 4TH, 1901 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 209 


ganization. Over one hundred and forty were en- 
rolled during the first three years. Numbers were 
brought into the church through the influence of the 
society and a splendid work was done. Church ser- 
vices were better attended, the study of God’s Word 
was stimulated and Christians were built up in faith 
and knowledge. 

This was the first Christian Endeavor Society or- 
ganized in the State of Maryland, and still with 
vigor occupies a prominent place in the activities of 
the Church. 

The Pastors’ Aid Society is another organization 
which began its existence in 1886. The first meet- 
ing was called and the society organized April 2nd, 
1886. The object of this society was to aid the 
pastor in his work in those ways in which woman is 
the most efficient helper. To combine and unify in 
one organization the various woman’s agencies of 
work, missionary, charitable, etc., etc., so that there 
may be economy and harmony of working. Some 
forty ladies co-operated. A large “Visiting Com- 
mittee’ made social calls in the congregation, look- 
ing up and reporting to the pastor such matters as 
required his pastoral care. 

The “Dorcas Committee’ maintained a flourish- 
ing sewing school on Saturday afternoons, the schol- 
ars numbering one hundred and twenty. The “Com- 
mittee on the Care of the Church Property” keeps a 


210 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


watchful eye on the church property and co-operates 
with the Board of Trustees in any way necessary. 

When the Evangelical Alliance conducted its 
“house-to-house”’ visitation, this society united with 
the High Street M. E. Church in canvassing the dis- 
trict bounded by Baltimore street on the North, Cen- 
tral avenue on the East, Jones Falls on the West and 
the harbor on the South. Great good is said to have 
resulted, numbers of children being brought into the 
Sabbath School, increased attendance upon the 
church services, while some persons were found who 
thought the church had forgotten them. 

In this year the “Willing Hearts,” a missionary 
circle, was organized among some young ladies of 
the congregation by Mrs. Proudfit. They collected a 
missionary library and monthly meetings were held 
for prayer and conference. They met in the homes 
of the members to engage in sewing, the proceeds of 
which were donated to Home and Foreign Mis- 
sions. “This circle is doing a great work in many 
ways.” 

In the fall of 1886 some children (under 12) catch- 
ing this spirit of organization, of their own accord 
formed a mission band and honored their pastor by 
calling themselves the “Alexander Proudfit Mission 
Band.” The Band had fourteen members, met 
monthly for the study of missionary literature and 
work and prayer. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 211 


“One of the most encouraging developments of the 
last three years.” 
Of the finances of the church much might be said 


of an encouraging nature. When the new Sabbath 
School was built and the repairs upon the church 


completed the congregation found itself, in the 
spring of 1885, $7,000 in debt, $6,000 of which was 
a mortgage upon the church property. The Trus- 
tees in 1886 took active measures to extinguish this 
indebtedness; and, as invariably they had done be- 
fore, the members responded. 

The following plan was devised and proceeded 
upon: The people were invited to give a specified 
number of cents per day, payable in monthly instal- 
ments ; subscriptions were received from one cent to 
one hundred cents per day, so that in February, 
1888, together with the amount realized from two 
legacies, the entire sum needed was obtained. 

During this time the benevolences of the congre- 
gation had steadily increased from $1,026, given in 
1885, to $3,836, given in 1888. In the same period 
of time the amount of money subscribed for congre- 
gational purposes almost doubled. 

“Gathering up the fragments,’ Dr. Proudfit de- 
clared, was the principle upon which the congrega- 
tion was working and which had yielded such splen- 
did results. Such a record showed the presence of 
ability, material and spiritual, which only needed de- 


212 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


velopment to yield splendid results. No Communion 
season passed in all those years without some addi- 
tions to the church. Ninety-three in all had become 
members, and there had been a decided growth in the 
spirituality and working power of the church. How 
true we find this statement from Dr. Proudfit’s pen: 
“Our church occupies a peculiar and very important 
field. Its work can be done by no other Presbyterian 
Church. Its past record is noble, but it has a still 
higher mission to perform.” 

At a meeting of the congregation, held May 2d, 
1888, the General Assembly’s plan of systematic be- 
neficence was adopted, and the Session, May 15th, 
presented the following plan: 


PLAN OF SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. 


General Principles. 


We recognize these general principles as taught 
by God’s Word. 

1. All should give toward the support of God’s 
house. 

2. All should give toward the spreading of the 
Gospel. 

Our present plan of church support, in addition 
to pew rents, embraces a system of weekly offerings, 
handed in every Sabbath, in white envelopes. It is not 
intended that these contributions should be in any 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 213 


way interfered with. It has, therefore, been thought 
best to arrange the offerings for benevolence in 
monthly payments, for which brown envelopes will 
be furnished to each member of the congregation. 
Each package of envelopes will be accompanied with 
the “Private Pledge,’ recommended by the General 
Assembly, which members are earnestly requested to 
fill out and sign, not for the inspection of others, but 
as a record of their purpose in the sight of God. En- 
velopes containing these “Offerings for Benevo- 
lence’ should be placed upon the collection plate on 
the first Sabbath of each month. 

The money received through these envelopes, after 
first setting aside $10.00 monthly as a fund to be 
distributed monthly by the Session among objects 
not specified, shall be distributed as follows: 


To the Board of Foreign Missions....38 per cent. 


To the Board of Home Missions..... 30 per cent. 
To the Board of Church Erection..... 6 per cent. 
To the Board of Missions for Freed- 

Ree Sal Rei. ee, SHS Lathe errant: 
te the Beard of Education. 50.2222 4 per cent. 
To the Board of Aid for Colleges..... 2 per cent. 
To the Board of Ministerial Relief.... 6 per cent. 
To the Board of Publication and Sun- 

day Schools Work); 20. 2008. 2250004 4 per cent. 


To the Board of Sustentation........ 2 per cent. 


214 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Should any person desire to contribute especially 
to any one of these Boards or to other benevolent 
objects, they can do so by placing such contributions 
in an envelope bearing their request. Such individ- 
ual preferences will be always respected. 

On the 1st Sabbath of each month from October 
to May, inclusive, the pastor will direct special atten- 
tion to the needs of some one of these Boards of the 
Church; and the plate collection, not contained in 
envelopes, taken on such occasions, shall be devoted 
to the work of the particular board then presented. 

Contributions for the Deacons’ Fund will be made 
on Communion Sabbath, as heretofore. 

The Session retains the right to bring to the atten- 
tion of the congregation any special object not herein 
designated, by giving one week’s notice. 

The earnest and prayerful co-operation of each of 
the congregation is desired. 

Session of Second Presbyterian Church, May, 
1888. 

The statistical report for this year to Presbytery 
showed a total of $3,836—given to all benevolences 
—which included $1,028 to Home Missions and 
$1,185 to Foreign Missions; the grand total for the 
year to all purposes being $11,456; the whole num- 
ber of communicants being 279, which would mean 
an average of $41.00 per member per year. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 215 


In the narrative for 1889 the Session reports the 
Sabbath School never to have been in a more flour- 
ishing condition ; 636 scholars in the home school, of 
whom during the year a goodly number confessed 
Christ. 

Of the new plan of systematic benevolence, they 
say: “It has worked remarkably well thus far, and 
we hope for still better results in the future.” A 
state of revival for some two months was reported, 
during which time eighteen confessed Christ, mak- 
ing twenty-six in all for the year. 

What splendid years these were which witnessed 
such additions on Confession of Faith and such con- 
tributions to the Lord’s work. In the first seven 
years of Dr. Proudfit’s pastorate one hundred and 
seventy souls were added to the church upon con- 
fession of their faith, and a grand total of $22,602 
contributed to the benevolence of the church through 
her boards. 

The year 1892 saw financial stress throughout the 
country, and the church naturally felt the stringency 
in her diminished resources, yet these extraordinary 
expenses were incurred: The organ was brought 
down from the gallery and given a place in the 
southeast corner of the church, which cost $502, 
and by the widening of Baltimore street the church 
was compelled to expend $366 more. Yet, in spite 
of all these things, the church could show a clean 


216 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


balance sheet at the end of the year and a small sur- 
plus in the Treasury. : 

Dr. Proudfit offered in the financial stress, when 
it seemed as though there would be a deficit at the 
end of the year, to allow his salary to be reduced by 
two hundred dollars, but the Board firmly declined 
to accept the offer. In 1893, however, the Board 
found itself under the necessity of accepting this self- 
sacrifice on the part of Dr. Proudfit, however reluc- 
tant they were to do it. In 1892 it was decided to 
enlarge and improve the Infant Class Room, and 
plans were submitted to the Board by a special com- 
mittee, of which Dr. J. E. Dwinelle was chairman. 
These plans were approved by the Committee, to- 
gether with plans for the proper ventilation of the 
main Sabbath School room, the whole expense not to 
be over $1,500. 

The Building Committee, consisting of Messrs. 
Haynes, Thompson, Yeisley, Smith, Abercrombie 
and Dr. Dwinelle, was given authority to proceed 
with the work. 

On January 4th, 1893, the Junior C. E. Society 
was organized, with four members; but before the 
end of the year had thirty-three enrolled. 

The report to Presbytery showed a total addition 
of thirty-three persons to the membership, making 
the number of communicants two hundred and 
ninety-eight, “the largest in many years.” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 217 


November 28th of this year, the pastor placed the 
following letter in the hands of Session (upon which 
Dr. Proudfit retired) for their consideration and ac- 
tion: 

To the Session of the Second Presbyterian Church: 

Dear BRETHREN.—At the meeting of the Session, 
on the Ist inst., I called your attention to the in- 
tended resignation of the pastoral charge of Broad- 
way Presbyterian Church of the Rev. George E. 
Jones, and the possible bearing it might have upon 
the future of our beloved church in the matter of 
consolidation of the two churches. I told you I 
would not stand in the way. 

In the American of last Saturday the notice of 
Dr. Jones’ actual resignation was published, together 
with the statement that the Presbytery of Baltimore 
would be asked at its meeting on December 4th and 
6th, to dissolve the relation. Without delay I have 
called you together to consider what should be done 
in the premises, and to carry out what I intimated 
te you on November Ist, I would do, viz.: ‘Stand 
aside, so that the two congregations might consider 
the question of consolidation without any embarras- 
ment which might arise from the Second Church 
having a pastor while the Broadway Church had 
none. 

I, therefore, ask you to call a meeting of the con- 
gregation of the Second Church on next Sabbath, 


218 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


December 3d, for the purpose of uniting with me in 
a request to the Presbytery of Baltimore, at its meet- 
ing next week, to dissolve the pastoral relations sub- 
sisting between the Second Church and myself, said 
dissolution to take effect on the first day of Janu- 
ary, 1894. 

In taking this step I am fully aware of the gravity 
of its possible consequences. This is no sudden and 
ill-considered act upon my part, as is shown by my 
intimation to you on November Ist, one month ago, 
which intimation was also the result of long and 
prayerful deliberation. For months I have been con- 
sidering the matter in all its bearings and waiting 
upon God for light and guidance. I think He has 
given it. Last Friday I received the direct offer of 
an important work in a distant part of the country, 
and in a climate in which I feel that it would be a 
great benefit to me to, pass the winter. 

For several winters past I have had severe colds, 
and I find increasing difficulty in shaking them off 
in the dampness, especially at night, which charac- 
terizes this climate in winter. * * * Gratefully ac- 
knowledging the goodness of God in granting us 
perfect harmony during these eight and a half years, 
and thanking you, brethren of the Session, for the 
active co-operation which you have given me, your 
pastor, in my efforts to win souls and to edify the 
church, I remain, with assurance of my sincere affec- 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 219 


tion for each one of you and my continued prayers 
to the God of All Grace for His blessing upon you 
and “the whole flock over which the Holy Ghost 
hath made you overseers, 
“Yours in the Lord, 
“ALEXANDER PROUDFIT.” 


Baltimore, Md., November 28, ’93. 

The congregation was plunged into grief when 
this announcement was made to them and would 
scarcely listen to Dr. Proudfit’s reasons, until seeing 
that his decision was unalterable, they reluctantly ac- 
quiesced. 

After stating the facts in the case, the congrega- 
tion sets forth its testimonial of the worth and char- 
acter of Dr. Proudfit in no uncertain terms. 

“We do at the same time,” they add, “desire to 
say-that the suggestion of the severance of the rela- 
tion of pastor and people, which has existed between 
us for eight and a half years, came from Dr. Proud- 
fit, and has been a source of heartfelt grief to the 
congregation. While we concur in his request, it 
is done solely because we wish to be governed by his 
judgment as to what is best. 

“Considering the interests of our denomination, 
and especially of our own church in the field where 
we are located and working, we do also bear witness 
to his faithfulness in preaching a pure Gospel, to 


220 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


his unfailing attention and tender sympathy in times 
of sickness and sorrow, and to his loving care and 
watchfulness over the flock, of which he has been the 
Under Shepherd. 

“In him the rich and poor have always found a 
friend, so that it has been truly said of him, “he did 
not know the difference between a rich person and a 
poor person.’ He has been well called ‘the Model 
Pastor.’ 

“We desire to place on record our appreciation of 
the faithful work he has done in our midst, which 
has resulted in an increase of the membership, and 
leaves the congregation at this time in good working 
condition. 

“Furthermore, we point with somewhat of pride 
to the valuable service he has rendered our denomi- 
nation in Baltimore and vicinity by giving much 
time, labor, money and counsel in helping to estab- 
lish, foster and strengthen other churches. 

“Finally, we beg to assure Dr. Proudfit that in 
leaving us he enjoys our confidence and affection; 
that our prayers go with him wheresoever he may 
be called to serve our common Master; that we will 
always be deeply interested in his welfare and happi- 
ness, and that in our homes he will always be made 
a welcome guest.” 

Dr. Proudfit did not rest very long until called 
to become pastor of the First Presbyterian Church 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 221 


of Springfield, Ill. About two years later, on Sab- 
bath, March 28th, 1897, having already preached 
twice in his own church, he made arrangements to 
preach in the evening in Oakland Chapel, connected 
with it. Feeling sickness coming on toward evening 
he said nothing about it, for he was very loathe to 
give up the service. The extra exertion was too 
much for his already overstrained heart, and he suc- 
cumbed April 2d, 1897, falling to sleep “as gently 
shuts the eye of day.” 

The news came as a great shock to the congrega- 
tion of the Second Church, among whom the name of 
Dr. Proudfit was still a household word. The Ses- 
sion met and forwarded the following testimonial 
to his bereaved family: 

“We have heard with sorrow of the death of our 
former pastor, Rev. Alexander Proudfit, D. D., 
which occurred at Springfield, Ohio, on the 2nd of 
April, 1897, after an illness of but a few days. In 
view of the fact that he was pastor of the Second 
Church for over eight years, we desire to place on 
record this expression of our estimate of the life 
and work of Dr. Proudfit, and of the great loss his 
death has caused. 

“We bear most affectionate testimony to the genu- 
ineness of his religion, the consistency of his life, 
and point to him as a most conscientious ambassador 
of Christ, one who faithfully exemplified his preach- 
ing in his living. 


222 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


“We record with loving recollection the faithful- 
ness with which he preached the Gospel of our Lord 
and the simplicity of purpose and earnestness which 
characterized his preaching. 

“We remember with gratitude his faithful pasto- 
ral work and the helpfulness and comfort he brought 
to so many homes that were in trouble. 

“We join with the great company to whom he 
has ministered and who have felt the influence of his 
life and the power of his preaching, in the feeling 
that his death has brought a great loss to our church. 
We wish to assure his family of our deep sympathy 
for them in this their time of great sorrow, and to 
commend them to that loving Heavenly Father to 
whom their dear one during his life commended so 
many, and to whom he would so confidingly con- 
duct them.” 

In his memorial sermon, preached in the Presby- 
terian Church of Clayton, N. J., April 25th, 1897, 
the pastor, Rev. G. W. Tomson, said: “He was not 
old ; he was not incapacitated by infirmity. He seem- 
ed to be in the very prime of his consecrated man- 
hood, better equipped than ever by his ripened pow- 
ers and years of wide and rich experience to do the 
Master’s work. It has been said of him, ‘at no time 
during his whole ministry has God been more mani- 
festly with him, and in the course of two short years 
he seemed to win the affection and esteem not only 
of his own church, but of the whole community.’ ” 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 223 


Alexander Proudfit was well equipped for his 
chosen work. He sprang from a family of preach- 
ers. His father was a preacher, also his grandfather 
and his great-grandfather, being Rev. James Proud- 
fit, who came from Scotland in 1754 as a missionary 
to the Indians. This is the true Apostolic succession 
which we would have been glad to see continued 
unto the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. 

He often said that from early childhood he never 
thought of being anything else than a preacher of the 
Gospel. This was the spirit of the coming man of 
God and this his environment. Is it any wonder our 
Second Church saw under his ministrations the 
splendid foundations laid of a spiritually-minded and 
Scripturally-inclined people, who build upon that 
foundation unto this day? 

Dr. Proudfit was of fine presence, strong physique, 
and affable, courteous speech and manner. Because 
of this he was a great favorite with all classes in his 
congregation. His heart was singularly tender and 
he was easily affected by his presentation of the truth 
or the vision he saw of the distress about him in the 
world. Yet he was a brave pastor, as well as kind, 
speaking the truth in love and by a strong and sweet 
gentleness bearing his public or private testimony 
before all. He was a manly man, close in the fellow- 
ship of Jesus Christ. The love of Christ constrained 
him. 


224 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


In the furtherance of the desire of Dr. Proudfit 
for the consolidation of the Second and Broadway 
Presbyterian Churches, a congregational meeting 
was called for Wednesday evening, December 27th, 
1893, at which meeting the congregation unani- 
mously adopted these resolutions, that the members 
of the Second Presbyterian Church cordially invite 
the congregation of the Broadway Presbyterian 
Church to unite with them. It was also decided at 
a subsequent meeting that it would be unwise to 
abandon the locality in which the Second Church 
then was, and the following were appointed a com- 
mittee to convey these resolutions to the Broadway 
Church: Messrs. Smith, Thompson and McAllister. 
This movement for the consolidation of these two 
churches was also fruitless, and on March 7th, 1894, 
the congregation met to elect a pastor. 

Their choice fell upon Robert Howard Taylor, 
who was just completing his course in Princeton 
Thelogical Seminary. Mr. Taylor accepted the 
call and entered upon his work the first Sabbath of 
June, 1894. He was ordained to the work of the 
Gospel ministry and installed pastor of the church 
by the Presbytery of Baltimore June 8th, 1894. 

A memorable event in the history of the Sabbath 
School this year was the celebration, in September, 
of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Superintendent 
Mr. Robert H. Smith. It was no ordinary occasion 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 225 


in the life of the School, for those twenty-five years 
bore ample proof of the skilful and loving leader, 
whom the School that day delighted to honor. Nor 
was it an ordinary day in the life of Mr. Smith, for 
his was a School to be proud of, responding to his 
guiding hand as a loving child seeks the caresses of 
his father. And best of all, to this day, the same 
School, but larger and more prosperous in every 
way, and many of the old scholars, larger and wiser 
and better grown, greet the same affectionate coun- 
sellor and friend of the by-gone days. To whom 
shall greater task be given than to lead the lambs of 
the flock as the gentle Shepherd Himself; not as 
Peter the Hermit, who led the vast army of children 
to suffering and death; but like Peter the Apostle, 
who obeyed the Master’s command: “Feed my 
lambs,” “For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” A 
beautiful picture unfolds before our eyes of a gen- 
tle shepherd toward the close of day wending his 
weary way up the hill toward the sheep-fold. Be- 
hind him the flock he has so tenderly shepherded all 
the day. As we watch, the evening shadows fall 
around and hide them from our eyes. *Tis only for 
a little space, and then the whole hillside is aglow 
with celestial light, and “in the midst” one like unto 
the Son of Man. He bids the shepherd draw near to 
His side and gently lifts to His bosom the lambs so 
carefully guarded for Him. While with a look of 


226 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


unutterable love, He thus addresses the shepherd: 
“Well done, good and faithful shepherd; I gave thee 
these lambs to tend for Me and thou dost faithfully 
and lovingly bring Me back Mine own; enter, thou, 
into the joy of thy Lord.’’ And when we turned to 
look, everywhere the children, with glad faces, ran 
to his side, and together their voices blended in “The 
Song of the Lamb.” ’Twas earth removed and 
Heaven begun. 

In the narrative to the Presbytery for the year 
ending March 31st, 1895, mention is particularly 
made of a deepening spiritual interest. At the March 
Communion twenty-seven persons were added to the 
church, the total membership being three hundred 
and twelve. 

The year was closed without debt, “owing no man 
anything save the Gospel.” ; 

A Young Men’s League was formed, with a mem- 
bership of fifty, and a Boys’ Choir drafted from the 
Sabbath School to assist in the service Sabbath 
evening. 

July 11th, 1895, it was decided that the greatest 
need of the church was a new organ, and a commit- 
tee was appointed to take the matter in hand. The 
result was the present very fine instrument, which 
was erected at a total expense of nearly $3,000—all 
of which was subscribed and paid for by brs, 
pledges. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 227 


In October, 1895, the Session adopted the new 
Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church, recommended 
by the General Assembly, and the congregation be- 
gan to use it in public worship the first Sabbath of 
January, 1896. 

The congregation was delighted to look into the 
face of a Maghera man in February, 1897, for the 
pastor had invited Rev. William Hall, A. M., to oc- 
cupy the pulpit for two Sabbaths in that month. It 
was a far look back to Glendy, and there were none 
present who could take it. 

In October the Responsive Reading of the Psalms 
as a part of Public Worship was adopted by Ses- 
sion. 

Systematic visitation was also undertaken, Session 
employing Miss Christy Stewart, through whom the 
entire neighborhood was thoroughly canvassed. 

It was sought to enlist the boys in the work of 
the church through the formation of a Boys’ Brig- 
ade, and for several years the plan was measurably 
successful, but was finally abandoned. 

The special services held during the spring of 1899 
were of unusual interest, and resulted, through the 
Holy Spirit’s presence and blessing, in twenty-one 
souls being added to the number of the Lord’s peo- 
ple. It rarely happens that the Session of one con- 
gregation feels called upon to urge the pastor of an- 
other congregation to remain with his charge, 


228 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


though the two congregations may be members of the 
same Presbytery. 

When Dr. Maltbie D. Babcock received so hearty 
a call to become the pastor of the Brick Presbyterian 
Church of New York City, it seemed as though he 
were more than the pastor of Brown Memorial 
Church; every church claimed him, for all admired 
him, and recognized his influence in their midst. He 
was the pastor of the city; and the Session of the 
Second Presbyterian Church but voiced the senti- 
ments of every true-hearted, Christ-loving citizen 
when they said to Dr. Babcock, November 12th, 
1899: “This Session feels called upon to urge Rev. 
Dr. Maltbie D. Babcock, pastor of Brown Memorial 
Church, to decline the call to the pulpit of the Brick 
Church, New York City, because, in our opinion, the 
interests of our denomination in this city are so 
largely dependent upon the work of Dr. Babcock, 
that his leaving Baltimore would work an injury so 
serious that it cannot be estimated; and, further, 
because, as the result of Dr. Babcock’s pulpit work, 
he has gained a hold and influence upon so large a 
number of persons, and has changed so many lives, 
that we are convinced his present field and position 
has greater claims upon him than any new field.” 

Upon Dr. Babcock’s removal to New York the 
news of his increasing popularity and blessed influ- 
ence over large numbers, who crowded to hear him, 


ROBERT H. SMITH 
SUPERINTENDENT OF SABBATH SCHOOL 
SINCE 1869 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 229 


was received as a matter of course among his old 
friends as but the beginning of a widening and deep- 
ening influence for Jesus Christ. How shocking 
the news flashed across the ocean, ‘“Dr. Babcock is 
dead.” But after the heart had time to regain its 
poise came back the influence of that man’s own 
buoyant, confident hope, and his own sweet words: 


“This is the death of Death, to breathe away a 
breath, 

And know the end of strife, and taste the deathless 
life, 

And joy without a fear, and smile without a tear; 

And work, nor care to rest, and find the last the 
best.” 


After a pastorate of full seven years, Mr. Taylor 
tendered his resignation to the congregation, setting 
forth his reasons. In pursuance of the order of Ses- 
sion, the congregation was called together January 
23d, 1901, to take action, preparatory to coming 
before Presbytery. After Mr. Taylor had read a 
paper, which set forth his reasons for the step, the 
congregation acquiesced in his desire for the dissolu- 
tion of the pastoral relation, not to take effect, how- 
ever, until the 17th day of March, 1901. A com- 
mittee was appointed to express in suitable terms the 
sense of loss felt by the congregation over the 
departure of their pastor. 


230 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Mr. Taylor has been called and settled pastor of 
the Presbyterian Church of Canonsburg, Pa., during 
this present year. This is the congregation to which 
Robert J. Breckinridge ministered while President 
of Jefferson College, of which college Drs. Joseph T. 
Smith and George P. Hays were graduates, and 
Drs. Robert J. Breckinridge and Jonathan Edwards 
were Presidents. After the consolidation of Jeffer- 
son with Washington forming Washington and 
Jefferson College, both Drs. Henry C. Minton and 
Robert H. Fulton were graduates and Dr. George P. 
Hays was a President. 

Shortly after the resignation of Mr. Taylor the 
question of the consolidation of the Second and 
Broadway Churches was again revived. It was felt 
by many of the members of both churches that much 
more effective work might be accomplished by one 
large congregation than by two situated so close 
together. At a joint meeting of representatives of 
the two congregations, and after much discussion, it 
was decided to place the matter before the two con- 
gregations. The Second congregation accordingly 
held its meeting May 22nd, 1901, to which it was 
reported that the Broadway Church had held a sim- 
ilar meeting and had decided that they were in favor 
of a union with the Second Church, whereupon the 
following resolutions were unanimously adopted: 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 231 


Resolved, That the members of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church have heard of the proposal and 
action of the Broadway Presbyterian Church look- 
ing towards a union of the two churches with great 
pleasure and favor ; 

Resolved, That in view of this action on the part 
of the Broadway Church, three commissioners be 
chosen from the Second Church to confer with like 
commissioners from the Broadway Church and to 
arrange a plan for such union; 

Resolved, That so important a step calls for special 
guidance and grace to be given the commissioners of 
the two churches, and that the members of our 
church be requested to make this matter a subject 
of prayer, especially seeking the Holy Spirit’s pres- 
ence and help in the conference between said com- 
missioners.” 

The commissioners from the two congregations 
met, pursuant to notice, and drafted the following 
plan of union: 

1. The name of the Second Church shall be con- 
tinued. 

2. The Elders of the Broadway Church shall be 
elected members of the Session of the Second 
Church. 

3. The deacons of the Broadway Church shall be 
elected Deacons in the Second Church. 


232 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


4. The members of the Broadway Church shall 
be given representation on the Board of Trustees of 
the Second Church at the next annual election. 

5. The Sabbath school of the Broadway Church 
shall be continued in the present church building 
until it shall be sold, and after such sale provision 
shall be made for its continuance in East Baltimore. 

6. The Broadway Church property shall be con- 
veyed to the Second Church and, when sold, the pro- 
ceeds of such sale shall be used as follows, viz: A 
sum not exceeding four thousand dollars shall be 
used for the purchase of a parsonage and the balance 
shall be held in trust for the purpose of establishing 
and supporting a work in East Baltimore. 

This plan of union agreed upon by the commis- 
sioners of both churches, the congregation of Broad- 
way failed to ratify and for the third time the effort 
at consolidation was relinquished. 

The committee appointed by the congregation to 
secure for them a pastor, proposed the name of 
Thomas Holmes Walker at a meeting of the congre- 
gation held June 12th, 1901, and a unanimous call 
was made out for him in due form. Mr. Walker 
accepted this call and entered upon his labors the 
Second Sabbath of July, 1901. The installation ser- 
vices were held October 4th, 1901, the Rev. John L. 
Allison, moderator of Presbytery, presiding; Rev. 
Donald Guthrie, D. D., pastor of the First Church, 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 233 


preached the sermon; Rev. J. Wynne Jones offered 
the Prayer of Installation; Rev. John Timothy Stone 
pastor of Brown Memorial Church, delivered the 
charge to the pastor and the venerable Rev. Joseph 
T. Smith, D. D., the charge to the congregation. 

Thomas Holmes Walker is a native of the city of 
Philadelphia, and received his early education in the 
public schools of that city. He is a graduate of the 
University of Pennsylvania and studied Theology in 
the Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 
in Allegheny, Pa. He ministered for some years to 
the congregation of that denomination in this city, 
leaving it to become pastor of the Broadway Presby- 
terian Church December, 1899, which pastorate he 
resigned June, 1901, to accept the call from the Sec- 
ond Church. An event of unusual interest to the con- 
gregation was the annual congregational meeting and 
supper held October 31, 1901, when, after a bountiful 
feast, provision was made for the work of the new 
fiscal year. In appropriate speeches the pastor and 
his wife were welcomed, and pastor and people hap- 
pily established in harmonious union for the progres- 
sive movements which the opportunities of the year 
might present. 

Throughout the winter a quiet spiritual work was 
attested to by increased interest in the salvation of 
souls manifested throughout the congregation, par- 
ticularly in the Sabbath school. A teachers’ class 


234 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


was formed, to meet every Friday evening for the 
study of the Sabbath school lesson. This class was 
largely attended. The pastor also gathered together 
into a catechetical class those who were desirous of 
' preparing themselves for uniting with the church. 

These classes meet once a week at some suitable 
time for six weeks or more prior to each communion. 
These meetings, together with faithful teaching and 
training on the part of our Sabbath school teachers, 
made the special services held in the Spring of this 
year, more than usually influential, and “the Lord 
added unto the church of such as are being saved,” 
twenty-six souls. 

The Session was called upon early in the spring to 
note the severe accident which had laid aside tem- 
porarily the clerk of Session, Mr. John Abercrombie. 

It is but just that we pay here our meed of praise 
to this faithful servant of the Second Presbyterian 
Church, who, as Secretary of the Board of Trustees, 
prior to this accident, never missed a meeting of the 
Board in more than thirty years, and as a member of 
and the Clerk of Session, since his being ordained. 
has shown the same commendable zeal and fidelity. 
May the Lord bless him in his office bearing in our 
church and make him a chosen vessel to bear His 
comfort and His salvation to many. 

Early in the fall of 1901 a reorganization of some 
of our mission bands was effected, by which the old 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 235 


members of the Earnest Workers and Robert H. 
Smith Mission Bands united with other male mem- 
bers of the congregation to form a Men’s Associa- 
tion, while new members were secured for these 
organizations. The Men’s Association being div- 
ided into three sections—Missionary, Religious 
Work and Social—seeks, as these names would 
imply, to enlist all the men of the congregation in 
the work of the church in general, as well as of our 
own church in particular, and with it all to cultivate 
those social qualities which make our service here 
the more enjoyable. 

During the summer of 1902 the church building 
was given a complete renovation, being beautifully 
frescoed and painted, the entire cost of these im- 
provements being upwards of $3,000. 

In all our preparations to celebrate in a fitting 
manner the completion of one hundred years of his- 
tory, there is a hearty desire to learn of the past, not 
for the sake of the past, nor for the sake of the pres- 
ent, but of the future. We recognize that our con- 
gregation has a life and a character, with all the 
functions and powers of an organism, that we by 
our faithfulness or unfaithfulness today shall usher 
this life, weak or strong, into the opportunities of 
tomorrow. 

Hence we live not for ourselves in our congrega- 
tional life, but for the generations to come, for those 


236 ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


who need us and for Christ “who loved us and gave 
Himself for us.” We have ever been and must ever 
be ready to give of our best in the establishment of 
Christ’s Kingdom. Propagation is the law of the 
kingdom. Selfism kills. History may be only his- 
tory or it may be more. If “our story” of the 
already long life of our congregation is ““His-story” 
then it is prophecy and promise. The Son of Man 
who walked with our fathers shall to the generations 
to come declare His mercy and His grace, and He 
will use us in doing it, “Blessed be His glorious 
name, forever and forever.” 

Amid all the changes which have taken place in 
the environment of the church, necessarily affecting 
the personnel of the congregation, the member- 
ship today shows unmistakably every phase of 
substantial progress which has been made in Chris- 
tian character and work during the past Century. 
The children are taking, according to God’s promise, 
the places of the fathers. If their burden was heavy 
so is ours today. If they found strength to bear 
theirs triumphantly, we shall find, in no whit dim- 
inished, the sovereign grace of the Omnipotent God, 
ready to furnish us unto every good work. 

Here on earth in the church of God our names are 
written. May they be written as certainly in the 
Lamb’s Book of Life. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


237 


Present membership of the Second Presbyterian 


Church: 

Abercrombie, John. 
Abercrombie, Mrs. E. S. 
Abercrombie, David T. 
Abercrombie, Harry N. 
Abercrombie, Mrs. M. B. 
Abercrombie, Maud M. 
Abercrombie, Ronald T. 
Abercrombie, Mary T. 
Abercrombie, Robert F. 
‘Alvather, Mrs. Letitia. 
Alvather, Maggie. 
Alvather, Emily J. 
Alvather, Wm. Thomas. 
Ballauf, Cora Villette. 
Bangert, Mrs. J. W. 
Bates, Mrs. J. Atkinson. 
Bauers, John. 

Bauers, Mrs. Elizabeth. 
Bauers, Mary. 

Bay, Mrs. Emily W. 
Bell, Jessie S. 

Bell, Irene. 

Bell, Stella. 

Bell, Martha Elizabeth. 
Bell, Minnie. 

Bell, Sarah. 

Bennett, William T. 
Bernhardt, Marguerite. 
Beigel, Frederick Chas. 
Boyd, Emma E. 
Bramble, Mrs. Alma E. 


Brentine, Mrs. Mary. 
Brown, Mrs. Frances A. 
Brown, Miss Frances A. 
Bristor, Charles Morris. 
Breuner, Harry W. 
Bryson, Alice. 

Brusstar, Minnie. 

Brill, Marie. 

Buck, Helen R. 

Burch, Eva S. 

Burnett, James. 

Busick, Mrs. M. Cath. 
Busick, James Henry. 
Burker, Albert. 

Burker, Mrs. Lucille A. 
Burlingame, Claude. 
Buchsbaum, Amelia P. 
Carter, Mrs. Maria W. 
Carter, Edwin. 

Carlin, Mrs. Emily Jane. 
Carlin, Florence Irene. 
Caulk, Howard. 

Caulk, Mrs. Laura A. 
Carback, Jennie Reed. 
Carback, Annie Mary. 
Carrington, Mrs. Ethel C. 
Christie, Mrs. Eliza. 
Christie, James R. 
Christie, Nettie Ken. 
Christie, Belle McKenzie. 
Christie, Laura. 


238 


Clohan, Agnes. 

Coyle, Harry H. 

Coyle, Mrs. Anna Isab. 
Coyle, Peter Thompson. 
Collins, Mrs. Martha. 
Corckran, Mrs. Annie G. 
Corckran, James Gamble. 
Commons, Susie L. 
Cougle, Mrs. Sarah E. 
Cosh, Harry Moreland. 
Conn, Margarette Emma. 
Cox, Kathryn Holdefer. 
Cruett, May Irene. 
Culver, Mrs. Jane. 
Davids, Mrs. Katie G. 
Davies, John O., M. D. 
Davies, Mrs. Kath. L. 
Davies, Amy Elizabeth. 
Davies, August. 

Davies, Ruth. 

Dwinelle, Mrs. Susan E. 
Englehaupt, Frederick. 
Evans, Harry G. 

Evans, Mrs. Julia H. L. 
Fanning, Mrs. Emma P. 
Fanning, Mrs. Bessie S. 
Faust, Ella Waidner. 
Feuchter, John. 
Feuchter, Margaret A. 
Feuchter, Louis John. 
Feuchter, Alice. 
Flaharty, Katie. 
Flaharty, Eleanore Isa. 


ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Flowers, Mrs. Susie M. 
Flowers, William R. 
Flowers, Ida Virginia. 
Flowers, Bessie May. 
Flowers, John Melvin. 
Fleischman, William. 
Fossett, Henry Clay. 
Fossett, Mrs. M. V. 
Fossett, Grace. 
Fort, John Bancroft. 
Ford, George. 
Frederick, Henry C. 
Fuld, Viola. 

Fuld, Etta. 

Gable, Clara. 

Gambrill, Mrs. Minnie S. 
Geblein, Florence May. 
Gettman, Cora F. 
Germershausen, E. L. 
Gosweiler, Mrs. Laura J. 
Graham, Mrs. Emma. 
Graham, Blanche A. 
Green, Olivia D. 
Green, Mamie C. 
Green, Emma F. 
Green, Sarah A. 
Greaver, Charlotte H. 
Greaver, Virginia E. 
Greaver, Eleanor L. 
Groshaus, Mrs. A. K. 
Haman, Mrs. Eliza. 
Haman, James Reed. 
Haman, Sarah Campbell. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


Hall, Mrs. Melville A. 
Hall, Melville A. 

Hall, Anna Eliza. 

Hall, Amy Frances. 
Haynes, Frank R. 
Haynes, Mrs. Ethel Foss. 
Haynes, Alice Louise. 
Hamel, Lillie E. 
Hartung, Bertha. 
Hartung, Pauline. 
Henderson, Helen L. 
Hill, Nannie. 

Hildwein, Mrs. Bertha. 
Hildwein, Amelia. 
Holdefer, William. 
Holdefer, Helen Marie. 
Holloway, Henry C. 
Hopkins, Estelle May. 
Ilgenfritz, Mrs. Nellie K. 
Janney, Mrs. W. W. 
Janney, Mary Caroline. 
Janney, Elizabeth W. 
Janney, Marion Dean. 
Janney, Maggie Norris. 
Janney, John W. 
Jenkins, Mrs. Mary F. 
Jenkins, Barzilia Cole. 
Johnstone, Mrs. Jesse. 
Johnstone, Mary Jane. 
Johnstone, William Jas. 
Johnstone, Isabelle M. 
Johnstone, John Arthur. 
Jones, Margaret Roberta. 


239 


Jones, Harry B. 

Jones, Mrs. Hannah J. 
Kansler, Fannie M. 
Kane, Robert J. 

Kane, Mrs. Victoria R. 
Kane, Samuel Rankin. 
Kellogg, Harriet E. 
Kellogg, Mary Louise. 
Kettenbach, Chas. H. F. 
King, Charles Howard. 
Kirkness, Edward F. 
Kimpel, Lillian May. 
Kreitman, Carroll. 
Krause, Emil Paul. 
Lapsley, Frank Sloane. 
Lapsley, Henry. 

Lantz, Mrs. Emma M. 
Lang, Rosa Margaret. 
Lewis, Mrs. R. J. 
List, Mamie. 

Link, George Alden. 
Link, Margaret Ann. 
Link, Louis Nicholas. 
Link, Margaret A. C. 
Lindenburger, Katie. 
Loiselle, Eva E. 

Loane, Emma Frances. 
Ludwig, Sigmund. 
Mackey, Samuel W. 
Mackey, Mrs. Sara I. 
Mackey, Florence I. 


Mackey, Sarah Margaret. 


Marshall, Samuel. 


240 


Marshall, Mrs. Samuel. 
Marshall, Susan W. 
Marshall, Sophia. 
Mailey, Mrs. Mary J. 
Mansfield, A. D., M. D. 
Manly, William L. 
Mann, Catherine. 
Meyer, Charles E. 
Miller, Lottie. 

Miller, Mrs. Rosa. 
Michael, Grace E. 
Michael, May G. 
Michael, Jeannette. 
Mitchell, Mrs. Mary B. 
Moore, Bessie S. 
Morrill, Mrs. Edna F. 
Mullikin, Mary C. 
McAllister, Mrs. Jane. 


McGlenn, John. 
McKenzie, John. 
McKenzie, Mrs. John. 
McKenzie, Robert K. 
McKenzie, John Stuart. 
McNulty, Mrs. Isabella. 
Nicholson, Mrs. E. R. 
Nicholson, Mrs. C. H. 
Nicklas, Andrew. 
Nicklas, Mrs. Mary C. 
North, Mrs. E. S. 
O’Leary, Margaret. 
Oster, John Walter. 
Oster, Mrs. Laura K. 


McGinity, Mrs. Mary R. 


ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Otto, Mrs. Lydia R. 
Overbeck, Mrs. A. C. 
Overbeck, August H. 
Overbeck, Alma Cath. 
Overbeck, Edward Geo. ° 
Overcash, Thos. N. 
Overcash, Mrs. John N. 
Overcash, Torrance D. 
Phillips, Wm. B. 
Pilkey, Mrs. Mollie. 
Plitt, Wm. Frederick. 
Popp, John Edward. 
Popp, Mary Alice. 
Pohler, Wm. Robert. 
Proudfit, John W. 
Prussing, Mrs. Caro. C. 
Rahter, Mrs. Annie L. 
Relleker, Geo. L., Jr. 
Relleker, Rose. 
Relleker, Harry C. 
Reuner, Harry. 

Riehl, Katinka K. 
Roth, Wm. Jacob. 
Roth, Mary Emelia. 
Roth, Annie C. 

Roth, Emma Victoria. 
Roth, Henry. 

Roth, Mrs. Katharine. 
Robinson, John H., M. D. 
Robinson, Mrs. J. H. 
Robinson, Esther H. 
Roberts, Cora M. L. 
Roberts, Martin. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


Roberts, Rosa. 
Roberts, David. 
Rosendorn, Phillip H. 
Rosendorn, W. Cath. 
Rosendorn, Emma. 
Rogers, Grace. 

Rowe, A. T. 

Rusk, Mrs. Mary E. 
Rusk, Glanville Y. 
Rusk, Elizabeth E. 
Rusk, Anna Y. 

Rusk, Catherine G. 
Rusk, Merle DeH. 
Rusk, Emma. 
Schaeffer, Caroline H. 
Scherf, Frederick. 
Schmick, Margaret C. 
Schmick, Walter P. 
Schell, Minnie. 
Schloegel, Eleonora. 
Schloegel, Anna C. 
Schaake, Mrs. Sophia. 
Schaake, Bertha Lottie. 
Schreiner, Clara Louise. 
Sippel, John F. 

Sippel, Mrs. John F. 
Sippel, William F. 
Smith, Robert H. 
Smith, Mrs. Robert H. 
Smith, Mrs. J. Charles. 
Smith, Helen Alford. 
Smith, Emily E. 
Smullen, Mrs. Sallie. 


241 


Stahn, Mrs. Justice. 
Stahn, Louise C. 

Stahn, Adaline Janie. 
Stahn, Justus Matthew. 
Staudt, Edw. Fred. 
Stewart, Mary Jane. 
Staetzer, Lota Marie. 
Staetzer, Angust Henry. 
Stoner, Sallie. 

Stoner, Mollie J. 
Spengerman, Ida E. 
Spengerman, Amanda M. 
Spengerman, Clara A. 
Spengerman, Virginia P. 


Stromenger, Mrs. Mary. 


Stromenger, Mary E. 
Stromenger, Bettie. 
Stromenger, Miriam. 
Stromenger, Walter N. 
Swann, Mrs. Emma. 
Swann, Mary Catherine. 
Strohmeyer, J. Henry. 
Strohmeyer, George O. 
Taylor, Mrs. Laura P. 
Taylor, Mrs. Charles. 
Thomas, Mrs. Mary F. 
Thomas, Annie Eliza. 
Thomas, Wm. John R. 
Thomas, Richmond Earl. 
Thompson, Annie J. 
Thompson, Mary Belle. 
Trotton, Clara Ellen. 
Utermohle, George L. 


242 


Utermohle, Anne E. 
Utermohle, Caroline A. 
Utermohle, Georgie B. 
Utermohle, Catharin V. 
Utermohle, Geo. Albert. 
Utermohle, Annie Eliza. 
Utermohle, Mary Kath. 
Utermohle, Chas. Edw. 
Verner, Mrs. Belle Bay. 
Waters, F. Barrierre. 
Waters, Charles F. P. 
Warnsman, Adolph. 
Warnsman, Mrs. C. 
Warnsman, Frederick. 
Warnsman, Margaret A. 
Warnsman, Leona A. 
Warnsman, Adolph C. 
Warnsman, Grace L. 
Wagner, Minnie L. 
Wagner, Mrs. Alice L. 
Wagner, Lawrence E. 
Walker, Mrs. T. H. 
Weitzell, Mollie. 


ONE HUNDRED YEARS HISTORY 


Weigel, Charles. 
Weigel, Mrs. Rosa. 
Wells, Gertrude R. 
Wheeler, Charlotte L. 
Whittemore, Dana P. 
Wilkins, Geo. L., M. D. 
Wilkinson, Mrs. Mary S. 
Wilkinson, George. 
Williams, Mrs. Ida E. 
Wiley, John Kilgore. 
Wiley, Mrs. Laura E. 
Wilson, Anna Victoria. 
Winslow, Clara Allen. 
Wright, Charles A. 
Wooders, Mrs. John. 
Wooders, Mary M. 
Wooders, John. 
‘Worthington, Cora S. 
Worthington, Ella M. 
Yarnell, James I. 
Yeisley, Mrs. Eliza. L. 
Yeisley, Emma A. 
Zimmerman, Mrs. J. A. 


SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 243 


OFFICERS OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 


THOMAS HOLMES WALKER, PASTOR. 


MEMBERS OF SESSION. 


Robert H. Smith. John McKenzie. 
John Abercrombie. Harry G. Evans. 
Robert J. Kane. Frank R. Haynes. 


BOARD OF DEACONS. 
Chas. FP. Waters. Charles E. Meyer. 
John W. Janney. William J. Roth. 
Harry N. Abercrombie. Fred. Scherf. 
Dana P. Whittemore. 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 


John Abercrombie. W. W. Janney. 
*George L. Krebs. JAW. Oster: 

ie G.. Fossett. John F. Sippel. 

Harry G. Evans. Justice Stahn. 

J. H. Robinson, M. D. W. H. Rowe. 

Ee J. Kane. *J. H. Dwinelle, M. D. 


Martin A. Roberts. 


* Deceased. 


One of the most interesting spectacles in all his- 
tory, because of intensely heroic and Christlike endu- 
rance of sufferings, was the martyrdom of Polycarp, 
who, it was said, knew the Apostle John, who had 
known our Lord in the flesh. Thus the living links 
stretched back through the years. In our congrega- 
tion today, though we have none who can remember 
Dr. John Glendy, there is one who was baptized by 
him, and who therefore, can remember very many 
interesting anecdotes related of him by her parents. 
We are glad of this living link with such an ancient 
past, and pray that Miss Mary Steuart may be long 
spared to our congregation. 


> 


Date Due 


EC 3 


D 
Demco 38-297 


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